THE King's Hill-based Charities Aid Foundation is bringing together fellow Kent charities to celebrate the presentation of the Queen’s Award for Innovation.

The first ever charity to win in this category, CAF will be formally presented with the award by the Lord Lieutenant of Kent, Allan Willett, on behalf of the Queen, later this month.

CAF earned the award for it its continuous development of financial services to the voluntary sector, giving small, local charities all over the UK access to financial products and services that would otherwise be out of their reach.

CAF has invited all its Kent-based charity clients to join them at the presentation at its head office on October 31. Entertainment for the event will be provided by a Young Artist Award winner from Making Music, a charity which supports and represents amateur and semi-professional musicians in the UK.

Tracey Reddings, executive director of Charity Financial Services at CAF is thrilled that CAF is being recognised in this way for its work with charities.

She said: “As the number of charities continues to grow, our research shows they are operating in an increasingly competitive market, with smaller charities struggling.

"Our Charity Financial Services has given back an extra £100 million to small and medium-sized organisations in high interest and low fees in the last five years.

"We wanted to share this award with some of the charities we’ve been able to help.”