Published on:
24
February 2012
David Hunter has been named Citizen of the Year 2011 at the annual Clackmannanshire Awards ceremony.
The glittering event was held on Thursday 23rd February at Alloa Town Hall hosted by Provost Tina Murphy.
David received the award in recognition of his decades on voluntary service to groups and organisations in Clackmannanshire.
A volunteer driver for Strathcarron Hospice for the past 16 years, David also helps disabled people with their shopping and visits the ill and housebound members of the Ludgate Church. He is chairman of Friends of Alloa Tower, has been a member of Alloa Musical Players for 58 years and has served on the committee of Clackmannan Field Studies Society for 12 years.
He was presented with his prestigious honour by Lord-Lieutenant George Reid.
A panel of judges made up of Trustees of the Lord Lieutenant's Fund selected 8 finalists in the Citizen of the Year category who were invited to attend the gala awards ceremony. As well as receiving a certificate, each finalist received a crystal vase sponsored by Glencairn Crystal.
Master of Ceremonies for the evening was Sheila Bulloch.
Amongst the many guests who enjoyed the award ceremony was Citizen of the Year 2010 Anna Forbes.
The Enterprise in Education Award celebrates school/business partnerships and the contribution and engagement local business and partners have made in supporting enterprising activities in schools.
The overall winners of the Determined to Succeed Award were:
Abercromby Primary School was approached by IBM 18 months ago in relation to their 'Engineer a Robot' event. This offers up to 60 children from P7 a hands-on experience where teams of participants learn how to design, build and programme an actual, physical robot using programming software. They also learn how to produce a Powerpoint presentation summarising their findings. Each team is assisted by at least one IBM engineer.
The event provides experience of the world of work and enables children to see the relevance of their school work in a real world context. It also allows them to apply the co-operative learning and technology skills they have learned in the classroom, at the same time as assuming a role within a team with real responsibilities. It provides a situation parallel to that of employment in the real world. Some children may even be inspired to pursue a career in engineering.
IBM staff also benefit from the experience. It enables them to bring their skills and passions into the school community, develop their own skills and attract young people into engineering.
The Sports Council Awards recognise outstanding ability, dedication and achievement in sport over the past year.
This year's winners are:
Junior wrestling champion, Brian Harper is 1st in the Scottish, Welsh and English rankings and 1st in the Great Britain school boys and cadets categories. He won silver medals in the Latvia and France International events. The Tullibody wrestler is a member of the Scottish development squad, is a Scottish elite athlete and is in the Great Britain National development squad. Brian is on track to compete in the 2014 Commonwealth games in Glasgow.
Adam Ashe is a Scottish Rugby Elite Development player. He was part of the Scotland 7s squad in season 2011/12 who played in Australia, Dubai and South Africa, and has signed a contract to play for Glasgow Warriors. Equally comfortable in any of the back-row positions, Adam attended Alva Academy and has played club rugby for Hillfoots and Stirling County. He has represented Scotland at under-17 and under-18 level.
Megan has broken every Scottish record from 100m to the half marathon. She is a member of Scottish Athletics disability sport national squad. She was selected to be the face of disability sport for the Scottish Government's Active nation Campaign. Over the last year she has won 18 gold and 6 silver medals at various events and is on course to compete at the 2014 Commonwealth games in Glasgow.
A 6th Dan with Alloa School of Taekwon-D,o Liane is coach to European and World medallists from Clackmannanshire. She is assistant coach for the ITF European and World Championships in Estonia and The Netherlands. At the World Championships the team won 2 gold, 2 silver and 6 bronze. And at the 2011 Martial Arts Games the team won 5 silver and 7 bronze medals.
Alva Primary has won the Clackmannanshire Schools Athletic Championships for the last eight years. During this time they have gained 62 gold, 42 silver and 25 bronze medals. The team holds 12 championship records. The team fosters positive beliefs, increases self esteem and the work they do is a major part of the ethos of culture and achievement of the school.
Over the last 18 months this team has been formed from a disbanded under 16s team. Through the efforts of a number of key players they doubled the numbers of players in the squad. They entered their 1st league at the start of 2011/12 and have had incredible success, currently topping their league against much more experienced sides.
Alison is a Youth Sports Trust platinum Ambassador and volunteers at events such as cross country, after school clubs and interschool badminton events. She assists the PE department by getting fellow pupils to take part in interschool events and keeps them informed of exercise and sports events. She is an enthusiastic, dedicated volunteer who motivates and encourages others to get involved in volunteering and participation in activities and sport.
Mary has contributed over 20 years' service to swimming. She was a highly respected member of the swimming team and was a great asset. Swimmers who worked with Mary always greatly improved their swimming skills. Mary was a committed, reliable and hard working coach who had a fantastic way of motivating and inspiring children and other coaches in sport.
The event also saw the presentation of the Growing in Excellence awards, sponsored by Diageo, given to Council staff which celebrated our culture of providing outstanding customer service and leadership.
The awards were given to:
Provost Murphy said: "It is important that we recognise and applaud the hard work that is done by all those who have been nominated for awards. Everyone at this event is a winner, because you are all highly thought of in your community. It is amazing to look around the hall and see how many different clubs and activities are represented. It has been fantastic to hear about all the caring people, the talented sports people and those who have worked hard to raise the bar in what they do."