Bexhill Caring Community is a winner

East Sussex-based volunteering groups, Cuckmere Community Bus, Homecall, The Bexhill Caring Community, The Crowborough Vale Drama Group and Woodingdean Youth Centre have been chosen as winner of this year's prestigious Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, giving recognition to the unsung heroes in our communities that play an essential role in our daily lives.

'¢ Cuckmere Community Bus offer local residents who do not have access to a car, together with a large number of visitors to the area, an efficient, reliable and competitively priced friendly local services.

'¢ Homecall (Eastbourne) recruits and trains volunteers to support mainly elderly visually impaired clients throughout East Sussex in order to maintain their independence and combat any social isolation they may be experiencing due to their sight loss.

'¢ The Bexhill Caring Community works closely with service organisations locally to help improve the welfare of those in need within in the Bexhill community. The charity receives no assistance from national or local government and relies solely on donations, legacies and fundraising.

'¢ The Crowborough Vale Drama Group has been supporting the local community by raising funds to buy equipment for good causes and charities. Every year, the Group stages an 'Annual Review' which the group both fund and produce. Volunteers write scripts, make costumes and design and build sets, and the Review has become a central part of the community's calendar, will tickets selling out every year.

'¢ Woodingdean Youth Centre near Brighton in Sussex is one of the busiest youth centres in the city; engaging young people aged 5-21 in a wide range of groups, activities, projects and workshops. The centre, based in a rural area, offers over a thousand young people every year somewhere to go, which is their own space

The voluntary groups are five of only 104 organisations to win an Award across the UK this year.