Manorcroft United football club receives The King’s Award for Voluntary Service
Manorcroft United, a grassroots football club based in Englefield Green, has been awarded The King’s Award for Voluntary Service for 2024. This is the highest award a local voluntary group can receive in the UK and is equivalent to an MBE.
Manorcroft United, founded in 1981, provides football for boys and girls predominantly from the Egham area and its wider community. The club currently provides football for over 400 members across 27 teams including a strong and growing girls section, Youth Team, through to a senior section consisting of a Men’s 1st and Development Team and for the first time this season, a Women’s 1st team. Manorcroft United provides football for children from as young as 4 years of age through our Foundation Academy, and offers a clear pathway for all players through junior football into senior football. The club supports schools and local groups with activities not exclusively limited to football. The club structure supports volunteer parent managers by providing professional coaching for players but with the additional benefit of continuous development of our fantastic volunteer workforce. We pride ourselves on developing footballers but with a focus on helping our young men and women become rounded individuals, understanding the importance of community and helping others.
Manorcroft United is one of 281 local charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year. Their work, along with others from across the UK, reminds us of all the ways fantastic volunteers are contributing to their local communities and working to make life better for those around them.
The King’s Award for Voluntary Service aims to recognise outstanding work by local volunteer groups to support their communities. It was created in 2002 to celebrate Her Majesty The late Queen’s Golden Jubilee and, was continued following the accession of His Majesty The King. 2024 marks the second year of The King’s Award for Voluntary Service.
Recipients are announced annually on 14th November, The King’s Birthday. Award winners this year are wonderfully diverse and include volunteer groups from across the UK, such as a mental health and wellbeing support network for veterans and their families in Yorkshire; a group preserving a historic 12th century castle in south Wales; volunteers providing English lessons for refugees in Stirling and an organisation providing a opportunities to engage in the arts for people with learning disabilities in County Fermanagh.
Representatives of Manorcroft United will receive the award crystal and certificate from His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant for Surrey, Michael More-Molyneux, later this summer. In addition, two volunteers from Manorcroft United will attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace in May / June 2025, along with other recipients of this year’s Award.
Chairman Leon Turner said “We are delighted to learn that the fantastic volunteers past & present at Manorcroft United have been recognised for their contribution to our immediate community, village and the wider community. The hours put in by our volunteer committee, managers, coaches, grounds team and refreshments team are extensive and at times exhausting. It is such an honour that after a robust judging process our organisation has been selected for this award and of course it also recognises the work that is done across the country by so many sports clubs to help provide recreational activities for children and adults alike. We would like to thank the Surrey Lieutenancy and all those involved in the judging process.”
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