Hartlepool community project awarded King’s Award for Voluntary Service

Hartlepool Baby Bank, in Avenue Road, Hartlepool, has been awarded the King’s Award for Voluntary Service, which is the highest award that can be given to a local volunteer group in the UK.

The award is the equivalent to an MBE and recognises voluntary groups that have made an outstanding impact in their local community.

Hartlepool Baby Bank, which was founded in 2019 by three mothers, helps families save money, cut down on waste and provides a place for parents to get help and support.

Speaking about the award, Emilie de Bruijn, chair of Hartlepool Baby Bank, said: “I am amazed and stunned and blown away. We could not believe it.”

She added: “It is so lovely for our team. We have had some people who have been with us from the middle of Covid, who have stayed and supported us all this time, so to be able to say to them that someone out there values what they do is incredible.”

Hartlepool Borough Council nominated the group back in May 2022 and their colleagues, the Hartlepool Voluntary Development Agency, showed their support by seconding them.

Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022 and subsequent changes made to the award, Hartlepool Baby Bank only learned of their success this month.

Emilie, one of the charity’s founders, said: “It was all very cloak and dagger.”

The award was originally established in 2002 to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee and, following the accession of King Charles III, the new monarch expressed his wish to continue the award.

Two representatives from the Baby Bank have been invited to the King’s garden party in May 2024, where they will celebrate alongside the 262 other awardees throughout the country.

Hartlepool Baby Bank will be presented with a crystal award and a certificate signed by the King himself by the Lord-Lieutenant of County Durham, Sue Snowdon.

Emilie said: “The award belongs to the organisation to display which I think is just phenomenal.”