Tag: Volunteer’s Week

Never Mind the Football – the Midlothian Volunteer Awards are Coming Home!

Richard Cross on 8 July, 2021

It’s been a month since the 2021 Midlothian Volunteer Awards ceremony took place online, and we are pleased to say that we have now managed to get the trophies and certificates into the hands of all our wonderful award winners and nominees. Here are a few pics of the trophies being handed over. It was a pleasure to work with everyone involved in the awards and to meet the winners in person. We look forward to doing it all again in years to come.

Well done and thanks again everyone – winners AND nominees!

Members of Art Club’s ‘Amazing Brains Committee’ receiving their Covid-19 Community Award.

Ellie and Holly from the Midlothian Breastfeeding Alliance accepting the MBA’s award for voluntary work related to Health and Wellbeing.

Gina from the Penicuik Ambassadors, who won the ‘Volunteer Team of the Year’ award. Gina was able to come to the Glencorse Centre with her daughter to collect the award at the same time as the MBA.

Ricky Lloyd from Dalkeith Rugby Club accepting his award for Active Volunteering. Chris Boyle also jointly won this award for his hard work alongside Ricky.

We wonder who got to take the award home!

A member of the team from Food Facts Friends receiving the organisation’s certificate of nomination for the Covid-19 Community Award. Heather Mortimore from Food Facts Friends won the ‘Outstanding New Volunteer Award’.

We delivered the certificate and trophy on the same day that some of the other trophies were handed over in the Penicuik area. Unfortunately, Heather wasn’t there at the time of drop off, but we hope she liked it when she got it!

Samantha Gough, winner of the Saltire Summit Award for her dedicated volunteering with the children and families charity, Bright Sparks.

We think Bramble the teddy looks very happy snuggling up with Samantha.

Joseph Burke, Midlothian’s ‘Volunteer of the Year’ 2021. Joseph won this award in recognition of the outstanding volunteer work he has done over the past 18 months on behalf of local mental health charity Health in Mind.

Midlothian Volunteer Awards 2021: Nominees Announced

Richard Cross on 8 April, 2021

We are now able to share the list of confirmed nominees for the 2021 Midlothian Volunteer Awards, which will take place during Volunteers’ Week from 1-7 June. It’s looking likely that we will run an event on the evening of Thursday 3rd June to announce the winners, so keep an eye out for further updates about this.

The standard of nominations has been very high this year and we have also had a lot of interest in the awards. This reflects all the extra voluntary activity we’ve seen as part of the Covid-19 resilience response in local communities, but also the amazing work that has taken place across the third sector as a whole throughout the pandemic.

All of the nominees are listed below. The full list of Saltire Summit nominees will be announced later on in April. Well done everyone – you are all fabulous!

Outstanding New Volunteer  

  • Heather Mortimore (Food Facts Friends) 
  • Andrew Love (CAPS Collective Advocacy) 
  • Kathryn Gordon (Home Link Family Support) 
  • Katrina Drennan (Penicuik Ambassdors) 
  • Beth Fyfe Falconer (Volunteer Midlothian – Transform) 

Befriender Mentor   

  • Joseph Burke (Health in Mind) 
  • Alzheimer Scotland Telephone Companions
  • Amanda Gillespie (Home Link Family Support)   
  • Connect Project Volunteers (Volunteer Midlothian) 
  • Colin Pow (Health in Mind) 

Active Volunteering 

  • Rebecca Lewis (Riverfly on the Esk)
  • Holly Gibb (Breastfeeding Café) 
  • Mirabelle Maslin (Roslin and Bilston Community Council) 
  • Chris Boyle and Ricky Lloyd (Dalkeith Rugby) 
  • Dalkeith Guerrilla Gardeners 
  • Ageing Well (Midlothian Council)

Health and Wellbeing  

  • Anam Cara Befriending Team
  • Art and Craft in Wellbeing Group (Health in Mind) 
  • Midlothian Breastfeeding Alliance
  • Green Prescribing Garden Buddies (Cyrenians)

Dedicated Service  

  • Jim Paterson (Food Facts Friends) 
  • Connect Online (Volunteer Midlothian) 
  • David Thornton (Health in Mind) 
  • Colette Pye (Mayfield and District Breastfeeding Support Group) 
  • Maggie Palmer (Home Link Family Support)  
  • Jim Ralston (1st Loanhead Boys Brigade Company) 
  • Penicuik Community Development Trust

Covid-19  

  • Vernon Miles (Community Activist – Environmental Clean Up) 
  • Grant Stanley (‘Our Stars Family’ on Facebook ) 
  • Amazing Brains Committee at Art Club 
  • Food Facts Friends 
  • Gorebridge Resilience Partnership  
  • Penicuik Ambassadors 

Volunteer Manager  

  • Mark Wells (Food Facts Friends) 
  • Michael Huddleston (Alzheimer Scotland) 
  • Monika Dyczko (Health in Mind) 
  • Naomi Knights (Volunteer Midlothian) 
  • Shondra Riley (Made in Midlothian) 

Saltire Summit Award

  • Kyle Anderson
  • Eva Hesketh-Laird
  • Louise Gillespie
  • Melissa Reidie 
  • Samantha Gough

Midlothian Volunteer Awards 2021: Nominations are NOW OPEN!

Richard Cross on 8 March, 2021

We are super excited to announce that the nominations for this year’s Volunteers’ Week Awards are now open! The 2021 awards are shaping up to be extra special because they will celebrate volunteering activity from both before and during the pandemic. 

Categories for nomination include: Outstanding New Volunteer, Befriender/Mentor of the Year, Active Volunteering, Health and Wellbeing, Dedicated Service to Volunteering, Volunteer Manager of the Year and the Saltire Summit Award.

The winners of the 2019 awards, which were held at Newbattle Abbey College.

A brand-new category has also been introduced for 2021 to acknowledge community-led volunteering that occurred in response to Covid-19. This category will be open to nominations from members of the public in Midlothian who want to recognise local volunteers that have made an outstanding effort in their communities over the last 12 months. We can’t wait to see the nominations flying in! They are open for a three-week period until the end of March, so spread the word through your networks and get thinking as to who you might want to put forward for an award. 

More information about how to nominate and the link to the nominations form can be found on our Volunteers’ Week FAQ’s page. We will also be releasing a video guide to the awards later on in the week, so look out for that, particularly if you prefer to listen rather than read.

Good luck! If you’ve any questions, get in touch by emailing volunteering@MCA.scot

Celebrating Volunteer’s Week 2020 in Midlothian

Richard Cross on 2 June, 2020

It’s Volunteer’s Week 2020 �� and this year we’re focusing on gratitude and recognition. As always, the team at Volunteer Midlothian are keen to get involved and say thanks to Midlothian’s volunteers: past, present, and future. Normally we do this by holding our annual awards ceremony, but sadly that was not to be in 2020.

Instead, we will be celebrating this year on social media. To join in check out the Volunteer’s Week website: Submit your stories, messages, drawings, photographs, poems, songs, or anything creative that says THANK YOU! You can also read some real life stories of volunteering in Midlothian being posted this week on Midlothian Council’s website. 

As ever, we are so proud to recognise the efforts of Midlothian’s volunteers (and indeed ALL volunteers from across Scotland) and we are asking you to join us in thanking them on Twitter! #VolunteersWeekScot 

We’ve got all our fingers and toes crossed that our awards ceremony will be bigger and better next time round, with some new categories to acknowledge the amazing volunteering that has been going on in Midlothian in response to coronavirus. 

Nominations now open for Midlothian Volunteers’ Week Awards 2020

Richard Cross on 2 March, 2020

We are super-excited to be hosting the annual volunteer awards ceremony again this year in Midlothian. The event forms part of Volunteers’ Week from 1-7th June 2020, an annual celebration of the fantastic contribution that millions of volunteers make across the UK each year. Preparations are already well underway – most importantly to gather nominations. There are ten award categories in total, all of which are independently judged, including:

Outstanding New Volunteer, Befriender/Mentor of the Year, Active Volunteering, Service to the Community, Health and Wellbeing, Long Service to Volunteering and Volunteer Manager of the Year. We also award up to twelve outstanding young volunteers with the Saltire Summit Award.  

HOW TO NOMINATE: This is a fabulous opportunity to reward Midlothian’s most active and dedicated volunteers for the part they play in supporting people, communities and the local economy. Nominations can be made via any organisation that is a registered charity or constituted voluntary group, or by staff/volunteers who want to nominate a volunteer manager.

You can nominate on Survey Monkey by going to this link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/N7MPZVH

Alternatively, email Miriam to be sent out a nomination pack that can be printed, or call the Volunteer Midlothian office on 0131 660 1216 if you have any other queries. Get your thinking caps on as to who deserves some recognition this year – we can’t wait to hear from you!