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Cambridgeshire volunteer honoured at 11 Downing Street reception
A Cambridgeshire volunteer was honoured at a reception for her work over the past 23 years.
Margaret Clark attended an event at 11 Downing Street, London jointly organized by The Times and the Sternberg Charitable Foundation Active Life Award.
Margaret was recognized as one of 5 runners up for this award as she volunteers at Voluntary and Community Action for East Cambridgeshire (VCAEC) for the social car scheme and has done so since 1999.
Margaret was recognized as one of 5 runners up for this prestigious award as she volunteers at VCAEC for the social car scheme, and has done since 1999. She is pictured (right) with Angela Haycock
The award is presented annually by the Times and the Sternberg Charitable Foundation to those who still volunteer after they reach the age of 70.
The winner of the award was still actively volunteering in their 90s.
Margaret was nominated because she drives hundreds of miles a month taking vulnerable members of the community to important appointments and also acts as a volunteer administrator running the car desk.
“I nominated Margaret as she has volunteered with us for just under 23 years,” said Angela Haylock, Deputy CEO at VCAEC
“She is an amazing lady, and it has been a privilege to work with her over the past 9 years, and long may it continue.”
Margaret said: “I love driving and that is why I volunteer as a driver for the social car scheme.”
WINNER
Lydia Tischler, a 93 year old Holocaust survivor and first child psychotherapist at The Cassel Hospital, was awarded The Times/Sternberg Active Life Award.
Lydia trained in adult and child and adolescent psychotherapy under Anna Freud in the mid-1950s and became the first child psychotherapist at The Cassel, where she established its children and family unit service.
This enabled children to be admitted with their mother, which was a ground breaking approach that influenced wider clinical practice.
FACT FILE
Ely & District Volunteer Centre and the Community Voluntary Sector organisation overs East Cambridgeshire.
The charity can assist organisations and individuals with their volunteering needs.
They also assist voluntary organisations with their needs which range from funding assistance to information and training.
And they run two other schemes from their offices which are:
(1) The Helping Hands Gardening Scheme to help disadvantaged people with their gardens. The work ranges from a quick once a week tidy to a complete garden makeover.
(2) The Ely Social Car Scheme to assist disadvantaged people with journeys, such as hospital appointments, their weekly shop, or the hairdressers.
Both these schemes are run entirely on the goodwill of volunteers.
Visit www.vcaec.org.uk for more details
VCAEC began as the Ely Volunteer Centre in 1991.
In 1996 they started the Helping Hands Gardening Team and then in 1998 the East Cambs Social Car Scheme.
In 2007, the Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) came to Ely, and the two organisations merged in 2008.
The name Voluntary and Community Action for East Cambridgeshire (VCAEC) was agreed.
The charity says it is unique within Cambridgeshire as they are an independent charity offering a dual role within East Cambridgeshire.
The Times/Sternberg Active Life Awards 2022.
Established in 2008 by one of F&BF’s Founders, Sir Sigmund Sternberg, a businessman who dedicated a great part of his life to the cause of dialogue and interfaith relations across the globe.
In partnership with The Times, the Active Life Awards were put in motion to honour and celebrate the achievements of individuals who have made a difference to the lives of others in a significant way, both in the UK and abroad after their 70th birthday.
The winner received £5,000, and five runners each received £1,000.
