Pushing Out the Boat are pleased to learn that our partners North East Open Studios (NEOS) have just been awarded a prestigious Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.

The Award is given to local volunteer groups across the UK to recognise outstanding voluntary work done in their own communities. It was created in 2002 to celebrate the anniversary of The Queen’s coronation.

NEOS artists and craftspeople have been opening their studios to the public every year in September since 2004. How they’ll do this in the year of corona is still to be decided but as they say ‘without doubt there will be something happening!’

While each attracting much wider interest, both NEOS and Pushing Out the Boat are dedicated to the cultural life of the North-east of Scotland. We offer each other mutual publicity in our magazine and their annual book, and a selection of NEOS members sell our magazine in their studios.

Pushing Out the Boat is yet to commit formally to producing the next issue of our magazine, but like NEOS ‘without doubt there will be something happening!’ Watch this space and once again, our congratulations to them on their Queen’s Award.