Humanitarian and author Terry Waite CBE has thrown his weight behind a scheme to celebrate the hard work of Kent’s army of volunteers.

The inaugural Kent Volunteering Awards are organised by the KM Charity Team, for whom Mr Waite acts as an honorary patron, with the help of third-sector support group Stronger Kent Communities, East Kent College, the Lord Lieutenant of Kent, the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner and the KM Group.

The former envoy for the Archbishop of Canterbury, who spent nearly five years as a hostage in the Middle East, said “there’s nothing like being able to volunteer” and that the awards were “an excellent scheme”.

The awards aim to celebrate the work of the thousands of people who work selflessly and unpaid every day to provide invaluable community services across Kent, Medway, Bexley and Bromley.

Mr Waite added: “Britain is noted for the fact that right across the years people have volunteered for a whole host of activities, from driving people to hospital to helping young people read books.”

Anybody can nominate either individuals or teams of volunteers for the awards at kentvolunteeringawards.co.uk, and the deadline for doing so is October 27.

Awards coordinator Karen Brinkman said: “Terry is absolutely correct: volunteering is such a wonderful and enriching thing to do, but the people who do it don’t always get the recognition that they deserve.

“As a third-sector organisation, we know how invaluable volunteers’ input is for charities. And we would find it really hard to do what we do without the help of our team of volunteers.

“The work of Sheena, Sue, Ursula, Sandra, Julia and Julie is indispensable both in our office and at our events.

“So I would say, please submit nominations for these awards now.”

Find out more about the awards and submit entries here.

And watch a video in which Mr Waite talks about the awards here: