Prince William presents CATCH with The Queen's Award

If you’ve been following us for a while you’ll be familiar with our ongoing involvement with CATCH in Harehills. They’ve been one of our Elympics charities since 2015 and we also built their SuperStars app in addition donating our time and skills throughout the year.

What they’ve achieved in their 10 years is nothing short of remarkable, and the positive impact they have on the lives of young people living in one of the most deprived areas of Leeds is one of our city’s most inspirational success stories.

So it may come as no surprise to many when they got the call that they’d be receiving the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. But nonetheless, everyone was blown away by the news.

As far as awards go, they don’t come more coveted than The Queen’s Award which is the highest award given to volunteer groups across the UK. Whilst CATCH are the recipient, the award is for all the volunteers past and present, partner organisations, schools and businesses who have come together over the last decade to support their work and young people.

Seeing a motorcade of blacked out Range Rovers slowly crawling through the back roads of Harehills on route to CATCH was a surreal sight to behold and it certainly turned a few heads. The morning itself was spent introducing Prince William to the young people, hearing their stories and of course meeting a few of the goats.

Prince William was clearly moved by the visit. So much that following his return to London, the Palace contacted CATCH to invite some of the young people to attend the Christmas carols at Westminster.

We couldn’t be happier for Ash and everyone at CATCH for being recognised in this way and we look forward to continuing to support them as they grow and continue to transform the live of young people throughout Leeds.