Winner Archives - Midlothian Third Sector Interface

Panda-monium at the Midlothian Volunteer Awards 2024!

placement on 14 June, 2024

On Thursday 6 June, volunteers across Midlothian arrived at Newbattle Abbey College for our annual Midlothian Volunteer Awards. The night was a blast and we want to thank everyone who attended. It is a joy to celebrate the hardworking volunteers in Midlothian each year. We hope you all had as much fun as we did!

Photographs

Thank you to our wonderful photographer, Kris Soul Photography, for capturing the evening.

Click the button below to see photos from the awards ceremony:

View Photos

Programme

You can see the winners and nominations from the night in our awards programme:

Mascot Campaign

In 2024, our mascot campaign is a little different. Each year we usually have a student placement who works with us to organise a competition and campaign with a brand new mascot. This year, we didn’t have a student placement but we couldn’t bear to have Volunteers’ Week without a mascot! We brought back mascots from previous years; Bramble the Bear, Pretzel the Panda, and Ringo the Rhino to keep the tradition going. Take a look at our campaign video down below.

We hope these mascots will find someone to look after them next year!

If you attended the ceremony, we’d love to gather your feedback, please fill in this short 3 question survey. Your feedback helps us continually improve for future events.

A BIG thank you to our generous sponsors:

EDF Energy

Esk Valley Rotary Club

Scottish Fire & Rescue Service

Scottish Qualifications Authority

Midlothian Health and Social Care Partnership

Midlothian Council

Well Done You Ltd

and of course, Newbattle Abbey College.

We can’t wait to see you all again for next year’s ceremony!

Les Reynolds (Mayfield Community Club)

Miriam Leighton on 29 March, 2023

Nominated by: Mayfield Community Club Tea Dance

Les, we highly value your involvement in supporting and engaging people into their local community. You are a passionate, motivated, helpful and proactive individual. We appreciate your commitment to the Mayfield Community Club Tea Dance which has become an important event in the lives of 100 isolated people in the community. The work that you have done to evolve the project and make it accessible to others is wonderful.

Louise D’Arcy Greig (Army Cadet Force)

Miriam Leighton on 29 March, 2023

Nominated by: Mayfield Community Council

We particularly admire you helping young people of Midlothian by providing them with the skills of discipline, focus and leadership which will enable them to overcome many obstacles in life.

Soup2Go (Midlothian CLLE)

Miriam Leighton on 29 March, 2023

Nominated by: Midlothian Communities Lifelong Learning and Employability

We particularly admired the fact that these volunteers created something from scratch for that supported the local community. We loved the feedback from members of the community and seeing how the Soup2Go team were valued. It was great to see how volunteering had also made a difference to those who took part.

Davy Naismith (Glencorse Centre)

Miriam Leighton on 29 March, 2023

Nominated by: Glencorse

It is clear Davy has passion, commitment, and devotion towards his community though his work at Glencorse Centre. We believe Davy goes beyond what is expected, using his own time and resources to improve the lives of those in the community. It is evident that Davy encompasses community spirit and has had a real impact to the community.

Ageing Well Volunteers (Ageing Well)

Miriam Leighton on 29 March, 2023

Nominated by: Ageing Well Volunteer Coordinator

We particularly value your commitment to improve people’s life and wellbeing and your long life dedication to promote physical activity of a local community

Alister Ballantyne (Health in Mind)

Miriam Leighton on 29 March, 2023

Nominated by: Health in Mind

It is clear from Ally’s nomination that he has a very long history of volunteering within Midlothian, most recently with Peer Connection Midlothian. It is clear that he invests his time and energy building long lasting relationships to support people with mental health conditions. Over and above 1-2-1 support, Ally has also devoted his time to supported fundraising for Peer Connecting Midlothian, and again has shared his extensive experience to help guide applications to the Midlothian Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund. It is obvious that Ally is regarded as a much loved and valued mentor who should be celebrated with this award.

IMPACT facilitators – Parents Group (CLLE & Sure Start)

Miriam Leighton on 28 March, 2023

Nominated by: Midlothian Council CLLE and Midlothian Sure Start

We were inspired by the work that IMPACT have been carrying out to improve the wellbeing of our community members. Through the development and introduction of adult wellbeing programmes they have brought members of the community together, enabling them to obtain new skills, establish new friendships and most importantly providing the opportunity for individuals to secure a trusted support network that is there long after they have finished the programme. Feedback from attendees has clearly been very positive and we are delighted to award Lee, Shona and Claire this years Outstanding New Volunteer award.

Ageing Well Volunteer Team

Miriam Leighton on 11 May, 2022

The Aging Well Volunteer Team have done a tremendous job this year supporting people over the age of 50 – many with long term health conditions – to lead a more active lifestyle. Throughout Midlothian the volunteers offer 45 activities each week including health walks, new age curling, dance and other sports. The peer support they provide is key to the success of Ageing Well. All 58 volunteers act as valuable role models to encourage others to take better care of their own health and wellbeing. Volunteers are very loyal to the project and one has been with the project from the very beginning, for 22 years! With over 4000 hours given to the project in the past year alone, Ageing Well volunteers are a dedicated, enthusiastic group of very special people.

Nominated by: Ageing Well Midlothian