Work to restore an historic garden near Lichfield has been given royal recognition.
The Elford Hall Gardens restoration group have been given the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Work after their efforts to return the derelict gardens to their former glory.
County councillor Matthew Ellis – representative for Lichfield Rural East and the group’s patron – said the accolade was thoroughly deserved.
“Although there has been very significant fundraising, the extraordinary thing with this project is the amount of physical work done by the volunteers themselves,” he said.
“Quite often, in a project of this massive scale, voluntary groups raise money and make grant aid applications and then use commercial contrators to do the actual work. Some specialist stuff has been done that way but the vast amount of work has been done by the group and the incredible skills they have within it. The craftsmanship is extraordinary.
“The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Services is the highest recognition possible and is, as I say, very richly deserved. Everyone should be very proud indeed of that and the lovely Gardens which look better and better every time I visit.”
The presentation by Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant for Sffordshire, takes place on September 3 in the Gardens at 2pm.
