Angell Town charity at heart of estate receives royal recognition

Honoured: Pastor Lorraine Jones with the Queen’s Award

One of the charities at the heart of our ground-breaking The Estate We’re In campaign has received the highest honour in the country for volunteer groups.

Dwaynamics, the boxing group founded by Angell Town estate resident Pastor Lorraine Jones, was given the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service at a ceremony last night hosted by the Lord-Lieutenant, Kenneth Olisa, Her Majesty’s representative in Greater London. The charity was cited for “empowering vulnerable youth to turn pain into power through boxing and life skills coaching” and was one of 20 organisations to be recognised for outstanding work in their communities.

Mr Olisa presented the winners with their certificates and crystals and said: “This award is the MBE for volunteer groups. It is the top accolade and recognises the vital role played by the unsung heroes of the voluntary and community world.”

Pastor Lorraine, who set up the charity to continue the work of her 20-year-old son Dwayne after he was stabbed to death on the outskirts of Angell Town three years ago, said: “I feel tremendously honoured that the Queen has recognised the work done by Dwaynamics in combating youth violence and giving young people greater opportunities to being successful in society. As a bereaved mother I feel a greater strength and magnitude of resilience knowing that the Queen has given Dwaynamics her seal of approval.”

The Dwaynamics boxing gym near Angell Town was chosen by Mayor Sadiq Khan as the venue to launch his new knife crime strategy for London last week.

The charity was launched two years ago with a £17,341 grant from the Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund. A further grant of £15,000 was made this year, one of 13 grants amounting to £96,870 disbursed to charities on and around Angell Town, the flagship estate of our Estate We’re In campaign.

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