Harpenden Hopper nominated for a King’s Award for Voluntary Service (KAVS)
Three of the Harpenden Hopper’s regular passengers have kindly nominated the Team for a King’s Award for Voluntary Service. The whole team is grateful for such a nomination which is like an award in itself. Two of the passengers submitted amazing letters of support and these are available to read at these links:
On Wednesday 19th February 2026 two KAVS assessors arrived to spend the morning with the Harpenden Hopper trustees. This included embarking on Holly Hopper at 9am at the Highfield Oval and travelling around the first cycle into town and then to Eastmoor Park, back to Church Green and then along the “town loop” up through Barns Dene etc. Andy Buchanan (chair), Peter Hart (Co Secretary) and Richard Cook (trustee) met them prior to the morning’s shift. They were interested to see the minibus checking process which the morning’s driver, Judie Caunce, took them through. Then once at Derwent Road, and then on our way, the assessors spoke with the large numbers of passengers who used Holly Hopper during the morning. They were moved by the social interaction taking place as we motored off to the town centre. They really could see that the Hopper is more than just a bus service, it is a community service. The assessors spoke to many of the passengers getting direct feedback about what it does for them, how they use it and why, and what it means to them. Needless to say there was a lot of great feedback, which the Trustee team were delighted to hear. Many of our regular passengers got on the bus - it was so nice to see so many of them.
After the town loop had been completed, the Trustees together with the KAVS assessors disembarked at the George and headed for Gail’s Bakery and Coffee shop for some much needed sustenance. The assessors now wanted to go through our “paperwork”. They listened to Andy and Peter go through our process, procedures and other documentation. They were interested in the different roles taken up by our team of volunteers and how many hours were spent doing the different tasks. They were particularly interested in the Hopper’s driver recruitment and training processes.
Peter had prepared a presentation pack for the assessors. He took them through the history of the minibus service going all the way back to 2016 when it was just an embryonic concept in Andy Buchanan’s mind. Then Andy and Peter explained how the Hopper has developed from a simple idea to where it is today. There were graphs and statistics showing how the passenger numbers had grown steadily from those early days. The assessors were shown photographs of the original Mercedes buses, Hector and Harriet and the journey leading to Holly and Harold minibuses that we use today. If you would like to see the information pack, follow this link: Harpenden Hopper - info pack.pdf
The trustees also went through the Harpenden Hopper operating finances to explain the sources of income and expenditure.
After this session, the trustees together with the assessors went back to the George bus stop and got back onto Holly to complete the remaining journey for the morning, and then back to the Oval for the end of the shift.
The assessors were duly impressed by what they had seen during the course of the morning - they repeatedly told us this. They said that the next step in the KAVS process is for them to write up a report and have it ready for submission by mid-April 2026. Between April and November there is “radio silence”. During this time, a committee within the Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) go through the hundreds of nominations that will have come in around the county and UK-wide to end up with a short-list and then reach a conclusion. Several hundred KAVS awards are given each year, so the Hopper Team do have a chance; but it really depends on the different charities competing for the award. Finally, the awards are announced on the King’s birthday on 14th November 2026. So now we just have to keep our fingers crossed.
The Hopper team is eternally grateful to our three loyal passengers who wrote their letters of support and nominated the charity for the prestigious award. Thank you.
If you would like to find out more about the King’s Award for Voluntary Service, just follow this link: The King's Award for Voluntary Service - official website