Enniskillen Royal Boat Club has finally been officially awarded its Queen's Award for Voluntary Service which the cross community club was awarded in June 2020.

The coronavirus restrictions meant a suitable celebration of the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK, the equivalent of an MBE, had to be postponed until Saturday when limited numbers of dignitaries, club volunteers, coaches, parents and some rowers attended an outdoor ceremony at the Boat Club on the edges of Lough Erne.

Speaking at the event, Head of Rowing at Enniskillen Royal Boat Club, Derek Holland, gave an insight into the role of all the volunteers within the club who worked together to help bring about the club's many successes since it was opened up to all schools in the area following the Enniskillen bomb in 1987.

He said: "This once small project has grown and is now recognised and talked about around the world in the rowing fraternity, due to its success both on and off the water. Fundamental to this success are the volunteers whom we celebrate today.

"The volunteers at Enniskillen Royal Boat Club dedicate hours every week, coaching and supporting one another at afterschool training and the weekends for months on end. There are too many volunteers who have contributed to the club to name them individually, however there are two who should be recognised as the backbone of volunteering over the last 30 plus years at the Boat Club, namely Iain Kennedy and Gerry Murphy.

"Both they and all our coaches have given up hours to helping and supporting me, the other coaches and most importantly the young rowers of Fermanagh," explained Mr. Holland.

He added: "All the coaches are a great support to one another and especially to the young rowers, they organise crews, they coach both on the water and in the gym, they encourage and inspire the young athletes, they support individuals in their rowing endeavors as well as in many other ways, they repair broken boats, they tidy and maintain the boathouse, they load trailers, they rig boats and most importantly they make it all fun for the young rowers.

"They give rowers in the school and the community the opportunity to build friendships that otherwise would not have happened, they give them opportunity to compete alongside each other and to travel all over Ireland, the UK and on the International stage."

Mr. Holland also took time to praise the Parents Support Group (PSG) that supports the role of the coaches and the young rowers.

"On the other side we have a superb volunteer Parent Support Group made up of past and present parents of rowers that are currently led by Gaye Conway and Clare Wilson. Their drive and vision has really helped bring the Boat Club to the next level both on and off the water.

"The Parent Support Group makes sure all our rowers have that extra support, helping to secure equipment for the rowers, getting children to and from training, organising social events and helping to apply for funding for the benefit of the rowers. The PSG without doubt has been pivotal to our success over recent years."

The Head of Rowing also praised all the parents for their support and the Deputy Lord Lieutenants for the time and effort put into assessing the Club's ultimately successful attainment of the award.

The young club captains of Enniskillen Royal Boat Club, Frankie Reihill and Nikki Kernaghan also addressed the audience to give the view of the rowers who benefit so much from all the volunteering within the Club highlighting how rowing builds resistance to enable them to cope with all of life's challenges.

They ended their speech with the African saying, 'it takes a community to raise a child' and at

Enniskillen Royal Boat Club it is the community that raises the rower.

Viscount Brookeborough, Lord Lieutenant of Fermanagh and Lord in Waiting to the Queen presented Derek Holland with the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service in front of many of the people whose vision created this highly successful club and whose vision was made a reality by the volunteers within the club.

’s ability to ‘bring young people together to build a healthy, connected community through excellence in rowing’ has been recognised at the very highest level in the UK.

The Boat Club, formerly Portora Boat Club, has been awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, a resounding endorsement of the impact the club has made to all sides of the Fermanagh community in recent times.

This impact is not measured only in terms of rowing success on the waters of Ireland and the United Kingdom, but also the cross community ethos of a club that fully immerses itself in the community, be that through its charity fundraising, promoting awareness of important social issues such as mental well-being and encouraging members of all faiths and none to integrate to achieve set goals.

All these activities would not be achieved without strong and selfless voluntary efforts at all levels of a club that brings many people together from varying socio-economic backgrounds.

The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service is the The Boat Club is one of 230 groups across the UK to receive the award this year. It was introduced in 2002 to celebrate the Queen’s Golden