The King's Award for Voluntary Service

The MBE for volunteer groups

Many years of volunteering at St. Augustine’s have been honoured with the award of The King’s Award for Voluntary Service. This incredible news was received on 14th November 2024 (HM The King’s birthday) and is highly deserved by our dedicated Volunteers here at St. Augustine's Church.

The award was created in 2002 to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee and has been shining a light on the fantastic work of voluntary groups from all across the UK ever since. Equivalent to an MBE, The King’s Award for Voluntary Service is the highest Award given to local voluntary groups in the UK, and they are awarded for life. It has been awarded to St. Augustine’s Volunteers for overcoming isolation and extending welcome through inclusion and events at a polarised interface.

A huge thank-you, and well done to all who volunteer at St. Augustine’s. A huge retrospective thank-you to the memory of those who have gone before us and who were instrumental in their vision, outreach and community engagement, and upon whose work we have built.

If you help at the wee church to welcome tourists, help with catering events for the community, serve LEAH lunches, move furniture, organise arts events, oversee concerts, provide talks, keep the grounds looking beautiful, provide flowers, provide a welcome, make ‘cross in your pocket’ for the many visitors, pray for the dozens of prayer requests received through the church café and tourist ministry, or any other voluntary role which engaged and encouraged the wider community over the years, then you’re part of this award.

Congratulations one and all.

Rev. Nigel Cairns

For more information on The King's Award, please click the button below.

Presentation of The King's Award for Voluntary Service

Palm Sunday, 13th April 2025

Civic dignitaries joined parishioners, volunteers and friends of St Augustine's Church in Londonderry, on Palm Sunday, to see the King's Lord Lieutenant for the County Borough of Londonderry, Ian Crowe M.B.E., present a King's Award for Voluntary Service to the church's volunteering group. The team were recognised for “overcoming isolation and extending welcome through inclusion and events at a polarised interface”. Equivalent to an MBE, KAVS is the highest Award given to local voluntary groups in the UK, and they are awarded for life. The presentation was made by the Lord Lieutenant to parishioner Ivan Taylor during the Morning Service, which was led by the Rector, Rev Nigel Cairns. "In my view," the Rector told the congregation, "this award recognises all the community-facing volunteering that takes place from here. And it doesn't only honour current work. It's also testimony to the decades of volunteering that has gone on, and we very much stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us in this important work."

The sermon was preached by the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Rt Rev Andrew Forster, who said that the city's founder and patron saint, Columba, who built his monastery on the site would be delighted.

"This church has a special place in the hearts of many people,' Bishop Andrew said. "It finds a place in the hearts of tourists who walk past or come in to visit. It finds a place in the lives of people who come past it day by day, in this city, because it is such a beautiful place – 'the wee Church on the Walls'.

"Isn't it amazing to think that all those years ago, on this very plot, on this site, Columba – the founder of our city – built his monastery? Back then, this monastery, this place, was a place of worship, it was a place of care – one for another – and it was a place of outreach to the community. All these years later, it's still a place of worship, a place of care – one for another – and a place of outreach to the wider community. Columba would be delighted. Columba would be proud today, as we all are.

"The wonderful thing about this church is that it's not simply an attractive building on a tourist route through our city; it's a place of love, it's a place of hope, it's a place of kindness and it's a place where the light of Christ shines.

"It's a singular honour," the Bishop said, "for St Augustine's to be awarded the King's Award for Voluntary Service. And here we are, today, in the presence of so many distinguished guests, but especially of those who have made this happen – the volunteers who have loved this church for generations; the people who give heart, who give soul, who give energy to this place of worship.

"Today, as Bishop, I want to thank you. Today, as Bishop and as friend, I want to say – in the truest sense – how proud we all are of St Augustine's, this day, because this church has stood here through the very worst days in the history of this city that we love, and in the best days of the history of this city that we love. I want to thank you for being here, for blessing, for sharing light and love and human kindness."

"It's a triumph today," Bishop Andrew said. "It's a triumph to go through the whole process – the application and the assessment – and to receive the award. I know the volunteers here and those who have done this for many, many years – for decades – won't mind me, at all, saying that behind all of this is a really good leader, and you have an excellent leader in your Rector. I want to thank you, Nigel, for your leadership; for the drive and the heart and the ambition that you bring to this parish to be a place that is on the map not just because it's 'the Wee Church on the Walls', but on the map because it's a place of love, and welcome and ministry.

Among the civic dignitaries in church for today's service and presentation were the Vice Lord Lieutenant, Alan Moore OBE; the Deputy Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Alderman Darren Guy; the High Sheriff of the County Borough of Londonderry, Brian Dougherty; and Deputy Lieutenant, Mrs Joan Doherty MBE.