SDS is delighted to be able to thank some great people in Volunteers Week, 1-7 June . Over this week SDS will be highlighting volunteers who contribute so much to making sport happen at a local, regional and national level. Today the spotlight is on our National Events programme.
The events programme simply would not be possible without the exceptional support from so many loyal and committed individuals. Although by no means an exhaustive list, it is appropriate that due recognition is given to many of these wonderful people here. Firstly, the people that support our amazing member branches are part of so much that goes on each year and always “muck-in” when required at each event throughout the year. It is hugely appreciated.
Traditionally, often the first national championship of the year is the National Carpet Bowls event most recently held in Dundee each year. Along with the relatively recent addition of the Indoor Bowls Championships, the reintroduction of the Inter-Area competition and the long-standing lawn bowls event in Aberdeen, the bowls event calendar is in a strong position. The support we get from players from Bowls Scotland district clubs in the Tayside and Grampian regions is extraordinary. Further outstanding support is received from the evergreen Grace Whitton, Brenda Anderson and Ron McArthur who go above and beyond to assist and lead on all forms of bowling for people with a disability at every level. Ron, especially, goes way beyond expectations to positively contribute to each event. Norma Buchanan and Bob Christie are other consistent long-term supporters of the SDS National Bowls Calendar.
Our partnerships with so many of our friends in sport-specific governing bodies allows our athletes to compete with the very best technology and expertise available to them. This partnership has strengthened in recent years in athletics and swimming and enables our athletes to not only have access to very accurate timing for use in entry to other competitions but also to replicate top-level environments at these events. People like Gordon McCormack OBE, Joyce Wighton, Barry Craighead, Angus Cameron, Linden Nicholson and Isobel Martin along with many, many others have given so much to the track and field and cross-country events each year. On the swimming side Colin and Carolyn MacDonald, Jean Smith, Blair Prentice, Elizabeth Fitzsimmons and a long list of others have given decades of service to the calendar ensuring each event runs smoothly. Like everything it is so important to have a succession of enthusiastic volunteers ready to take the baton and run and with people like Sheena McCall and Jean King on hand this ensures the sport remains inclusive for the future.
SDS has a long list of partner organisations that support our events calendar through the donation of volunteer hours. Recent agreements with the Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays have seen support increase dramatically at our national events and allows our events to be seen by a wider cross-section of society. They have both been fruitful partnerships and thanks to Rhona Adam and Susan Hunter from the respective organisations for their efforts in this area. SDS has strong links also with universities and colleges across the country. West Lothian College is one of the longest running partnerships and their students offer critical support at a range of event each year.
Our annual residential summer camp has become increasingly volunteer-led over the last few years. There are some quite exceptional people involved such as Dave Rhoney, an SDS Board Member and part of the organising committee and Anna Tizzard, a former Paralympian and the only person to have attended every single one of our summer camps. Our medical team do a magnificent job each year attending to the wide and varied tasks they are responsible for. We have been so fortunate to be able to call on people like Jo Jackson, Helen Clark and Pat Henry over the years. They are steeped in specialist knowledge and have a broad range of experiences to bring to the project. The camp is further supported by around 20 other volunteers each year in a variety of roles and we rely on them
massively. Kai Goldie Sr, Martin Dillon, Gary Clark, Kirsty Byrne and Andy Hollingdale have added their names to the growing list of return volunteers each year.
Some of our most recent events – the badminton and archery events – mirror the more long-standing events in our calendar in that they are reliant on the input of a dedicated team of volunteers. Moira Taylor and Phyllis Pettett were such a big part of getting the archery event into the calendar and Lyndon Williams, Roselind and Alistair Hall, Emma Foley, Fiona Cameron, David Gillespie and Colin Leslie are all instrumental in the successful implementation of the National Badminton Championships.
Our Boccia events are again reliant on the dedication and reliability of a group of willing volunteers. Darren Thomson heads up our merry band of volunteer officials and does it superbly well. Sam Thomson, Catherine Carruthers, Ling Mann, Jenny Nethery, Jane Gordon, Peter Hagenbuch and Lynn Allison are just some of our long-standing volunteers in this wonderful sport which goes such a long way to ensuring there is a pathway to the very top level of sport for players with more severe and complex disabilities.
The SDS National Events Calendar is home to 22 different events now and this extensive programme is down, in no small part, to Richard Brickley MBE OBE. Richard has offered counsel and extensive planning and administrative support to the events throughout the history of the calendar and was heavily involved in shaping many of these events in the recent history. The contribution is hugely appreciated.
Our last group of volunteers are those we have sadly lost in recent years and miss incredibly. Our incomparable former-Chairperson Janice Eaglesham MBE was a tireless champion of our athletics programme, the irreplaceable John De Courcy was a Summer Camp legend and a lynchpin of our cross-country events.
SDS salutes each and every one of our volunteers – many also who haven’t been listed here. They are an integral part of the calendar and are invaluable to us as an organisation.
Should anyone wish to volunteer with SDS please contact us at events@scottishdisabilitysport.com.
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