03 June 2019

Inspiring Aberdeenshire 2019

Aberdeenshire Council is gearing up for one of its biggest nights of the year, Inspiring Aberdeenshire.

The event is now in its seventh year and celebrates all that is great about Aberdeenshire. Nearly 200 nominations were received this year, and the shortlist whittled down by the judging panel. The finalists will gather at Haddo House on the 21st June to find out who the winners are.  

Inspiring Aberdeenshire celebrates true local heroes, people in communities across Aberdeenshire who are the unsung champions. The event is run by Aberdeenshire Council and is the biggest civic awards event in the calendar.  

Provost of Aberdeenshire, Cllr Bill Howatson, said: “I never fail be amazed by the quality of the nominations every year. Reaching out and asking the people of Aberdeenshire to tell us the stories of their heroes results in a staggering depth of finalists and that is something we should all be proud of. I see the lengths people will go to for their families, their towns or simply for the things they believe in, and it is those people that make Aberdeenshire so fantastic.”

Below is a flavor of the finalists in each category. Go to www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/inspiring to read more detail:

Aberdeenshire’s Future award

Chelsea BeatonA Peterhead youngster making her way in drama and acting and as a true role model for the other young people she supports.

Clara Gray
Clara from Lumphanan is a member of the Aboyne Youth Forum and a Young People’s Right Defender, demonstrating a real passion for the young people in her community.

David Donaldson
David is an advocate for young gypsy travelers and their community in Aberdeenshire, breaking down barriers and stigma to advocate on their behalf.

Ava Simpson
A real star of the Year of Young People ambassador programme, bringing big ideas to the table to help in the Fraserburgh community.


The Inspirational Volunteer Award
 
The Grampian Child Bereavement Network
The Grampian Child Bereavement Network are marking a decade of providing support and raising awareness of the impact of bereavement on children and young people.

For the Love of Garioch
For the Love of Garioch is a volunteer-based community group. They set themselves up to give Christmas dinner to people in Inverurie who, for whatever reason, found themselves alone or struggling to cope.

Amy Muir
Amy is a talented photographer, but is also the champion of the Ballater Farmers market which she established, as well as the growing community allotment movement.

The Heart of Aberdeenshire Caring award

Aberdeenshire Refugee Resettlement Team
This team currently support almost 200 people who have settled across Aberdeenshire, and the ambition of the team is to make sure they have opportunity to make this their home, to support their care, their education and their children’s development.

Susan Strachan
Susan is co-founder of the Westhill charity Sensational-ALL, an inclusive hub which provides therapy-based activities and services for children or adults with any support needs or disabilities.
 
Mo & Wendy’s Street Food Van

With a lot of hard work, and even money from their own pockets, these Banff ladies put on Christmas meals for those people in the area who are alone or vulnerable. Full bellies and smiles in Banff at Christmas, and Mo and Wendy have left a lasting impression on their community.


The Cultural Award

Stonehaven Folk Festival
The folk festival has been running for nearly 30 years, bringing the best traditional and contemporary folk music to the town.

Patricia Gill
Patricia, or Trish, has been the leader of the Ythan Fiddlers since the mid-nineties. She has a lot of experience and extensive knowledge of Scottish traditional music, to promote the music and culture around Ellon and beyond.

Alixa Gunn
This determined grandmother has been teaching dance to kids in Fraserburgh for more than 63 years, and it is thanks to Alixa that Scottish dance traditions are alive and well in the town and beyond.  


The Beautiful Aberdeenshire Environmental Award

Richard Mullen/Banchory Golf Club
Both Richard and wider greenkeeping team were nominated in this category. The team have worked to make sure that ecology is at the heart of the running of the club.

Aden Community Allotments
Established just four years ago, the allotments now comprise 64 individual and family plots. The team nominated manage the day-to-day running of the site and add that extra “green” sparkle wherever they can.

Friends of Turriff Cemetery
The improvements made to Turriff Cemetery in recent years thanks to the work of this group are both of benefit to the environment and to the bereaved. They were just established two years ago but work tirelessly to make Turriff Cemetery a nice place for visitors, mourners and wildlife alike.

Rebecca Chambers
Rebecca is described as “the glue that sticks Johnshaven together”. She set up SHARK, a small environmental group with a very active membership, involved in several projects including garden waste recycling, green waste composting and regular beach-cleaning along the shoreline.

Local Hero Courage Award

Katlyn Wilson
In August of 2017 Katlyn from Macduff, who was 15 at the time, showed her true heroism when she stepped in to save the life of a woman who she found seriously assaulted in the street. A real inspiration to other teens and a hero in every sense.

Katie McDonald
Katie from Turriff is just 15 but the death of her little brother led her to champion breaking down stigma that prevents people being willing to talk about baby loss as well as fundraising for the maternity hospital.

Chloe Tough Chloe’s courage comes from the way she lives with pain but maintains an active and inspiring life. Her hypermobility leaves her in near-constant pain but her  passion is the development of sport at a grassroots level and encouraging young people across the Mearns to get active.

The Community Spirit Award

Keith Jensen
Keith has given years to the Sandpiper Wildcat project as a trainer and mentor. His influence extends through Aberdeenshire and he has a positive impact on the many, many people who have been under his instruction.

Scott Russell
Throughout 2017 and 2018 Scott Russell from Kemnay had trained over 350 children and young people in first aid. His voluntary work was so popular and well received that it led to him establishing ‘Young Life Savers’, a non-profit programme to deliver free first aid training to children as well as free paediatric first aid to new parents. 
  
Claire Nicholson
To mark the 100th anniversary of the Armistice Claire had coordinated nearly 14,000 knitted poppies to go on show in Macduff as part of a moving and incredibly popular Armistice display in the town.

Lifetime Achievement award

Stewart MacLeod
Stewart started volunteering his time to help Meiklemill Primary as a football coach in 1989. Since then he has dedicated countless hours of his own time to supporting the pupils. As well as that he organises local inter-school competitions, arranges support to referee games, used his own work annual leave to take kids on competitions. Since he began, he has been determined to get girls playing football, which was not the norm back then. He can even claim credit that one of his former girls went on to play for the Scotland women under 17 team, and she maintains she would never have got so far if it wasn’t for Stewart. He is a role model for pupils past and present, had a gentle way with those out of their comfort zone and helps push people to be their best. A real inspiration.

Viorel Etko 
In his own right Viorel he is a very accomplished sportsman. He has a Commonwealth bronze medal for wrestling, is eight-time British champion and is currently the world veteran champion. But this recognition is for the work he does in Oldmeldrum as a mentor and coach to young people. The majority of his time is spent encouraging others to get into sport. Along with his wife he runs and manages a sports academy. The focus is on wrestling but there is also gymnastics, adult fitness, baby gym and they welcome over 1,000 members each week.
There were a number of nominations for Viorel, nominations which talk of how much he inspires young people and the positive impact he has had on so many he has coached. One nomination even came in from a woman who described herself as a “mum who thought she would have been taking her daughter to ballet classes not wrestling classes!” He builds confidence and allows people to show and share their passion in a caring and judgement-free space. In his own words – “Believe you can achieve”. 

Alison Young Some people just come to represent the community in which they live, and Alison Young from Ellon is one of those people.
She has just retired as director of music at Ellon Parish Church, a role she embraced for nearly 30 years. During that time she organised the choir, youth bands, and singing events. She conducts the Aberdeen Gaelic Choir and has been involved with the Haddo House Choir and Ythan Singers. Alison is a piano teacher and has passed on her enthusiasm for music to countless students. Her links to the Ellon community means she was fundamental in providing support to the Syrian refugees who settled in the town and she has been a core part of helping them find meeting places and helping with language classes. She hasn’t got any of them singing yet, but not for want of trying. 

The winners will be announced at the event on 21st June at Haddo House.