On Wednesday, 19th June, they received The King’s Award for Voluntary Service from the Lord-Lieutenant of West Sussex, Lady Emma Barnard. The King’s Award for Voluntary Service is the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK, and is the equivalent of an MBE.
At the ceremony that took place at the Planetarium on Wednesday, representatives of the Planetarium Team received the award crystal and certificate from the Lord-Lieutenant.
At the ceremony that took place at the Planetarium on Wednesday, representatives of the Planetarium Team received the award crystal and certificate from the Lord-Lieutenant.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00On Wednesday the 19th of June, South Downs Planetarium received their King's Awards from Lord Lieutenant of West Sussex, Lady Emma Barnard.
00:08As you may or may not know, this is the MBE for voluntary organisations like yours and I am absolutely delighted that you have got it.
00:20We spoke to some of the volunteers and people involved to find out more.
00:24My name's Graham Tutt and I live in Midhurst. I worked at the Planetarium for about five years.
00:32It started by going on a cruise to the north of Norway to see the Northern Lights.
00:40And when I was on deck there was a man up there who was giving a commentary on the night sky and I got to know him and that was Dr John Mason.
00:50And I said, where do you work? And he said, the Chichester South Downs Planetarium.
00:58And I said, well I live in Midhurst, I didn't know there was such a place.
01:01It is well, well, well deserved. Very well deserved.
01:06And I'm glad we got the award.
01:09If you see the work they do here, it's not just the work. Some of the people here travel from Horsham.
01:16There's oil, petrol, fuel, it's not even mentioned. They do it all.
01:20And if someone's in the suit, John will phone them up and they will always come.
01:24I'm Elaine Hulse. I'm a volunteer at the South Downs Planetarium. I've been volunteering here for about three years.
01:31When we have the school groups coming, which we have most days of the year in fact, or during the weekdays,
01:38they mostly sort of ten-year-olds who see the absolute wonder of space.
01:44And it turns them on to science and it turns them on to technology and they just find it absolutely mind-blowing.
01:52And I still find it absolutely mind-blowing too.
01:56This place couldn't run without volunteers. It's completely run by volunteers.
02:01And it's an amazing resource to have.
02:03And the fact that so many people give up their time to provide the experience, I think the award's well deserved.
02:13Well, I'm Annie Mills and I'm a trustee at the Planetarium and I'm chair of the trust.
02:19I think today's been super because we've got practically 90% of our volunteers have managed to be here today.
02:27And it's lovely to be together because very often we work in teams.
02:32So one team may not actually work very often with another team.
02:36So to get together today and for a special celebration like this is absolutely wonderful.
02:44And this morning what we did was we gathered everybody very early and we were all awarded our King's Award badge.
02:53So that's a lovely start to the day.
02:56And then obviously having the visit from the Lord Lieutenant for West Sussex, Lady Emma Barnard, is another jewel in the crown really.
03:04So it's been a lovely day so far.
03:06And the Deputy Lord Lieutenants who were part of our audit have also come back.
03:13And it seems as if everybody's really quite pleased, particularly in the sense that this was not long ago just a building site.
03:22My name's Naz. I'm a volunteer here. This is my 10th year at the Planetarium.
03:27Normally I work on a Wednesday, which is normally the school trips.
03:33So we help all the kids get themselves in, get off the coach, get all the things together.
03:38Loo breaks, lunches, get them into the show.
03:43They're always really amazed, especially when the lights go off.
03:47Which is a really nice feeling. And generally that's what I end up doing on a Wednesday.
03:53I came to the Planetarium about 10 years ago for a show, just because I was new to Chichester and I'd never been before.
04:00And once I'd seen the show I was absolutely amazed and just completely taken with it.
04:06So when I was looking for something to do with some of the spare time that I had at the time, I found the Planetarium wanted volunteers.
04:14So I put my name down, came and saw Annie, and it's been 10 years now.
04:19Made some really good friends along the way.
04:21Yes, I'm Dan Oakley. I'm one of the volunteers here at the South Downs Planetarium.
04:26I've been doing it on and off for a couple of years, but really just started really getting into it in the last year or so.
04:36Oh, it's brilliant. I mean, all the volunteers work really hard and they're really diligent
04:39and really give a lot of their time to help teach other people all about the stars, particularly the kids.
04:45It's great. So to have the award is just a real good recognition of that passion and the enthusiasm we all have for teaching about the stars.