Provost honours area's local heroes

The 2016 Tea with the Provost celebration was held in Lairdsland Primary School to recognise the positive impact they have made in their communities.

East Dunbartonshire councillors were asked to nominate people who had gone the extra mile, for example through exceptional voluntary work, charity work or an outstanding career.

The 24 chosen were each presented with a certificate to mark their achievement.

Provost Walker said: “This event is one of the4 highlights of my year, when the spotlight is well and truly on the people in our communities who are quietly going about their business, giving freely of their time to improve our local area, help run our local groups and organisations and raise money for charity,

“The standard of nominations for these awards is always extremely high, and this year was no different - we heard about some exceptional people, all of whom make a difference to the area they live in. “Without people who volunteer to get involved in events and community groups, East Dunbartonshire would be a much poorer place.

“We are fortunate that this people made the choice to find the time to get involved in the things that they care deeply about.

“We are all living increasingly busy lives so finding the time to do something that benefits

others is something that should be applauded.”

Lenzie Academy pupils Emmajane Brown,12, and Jemma Campbell received awards for their contributions to charity.

Emma, 13, said, “We were delighted when we found out we had been nominated by Provost Walker and we had a lovely afternoon.

“We both love dogs and had wanted to do something together for charity. We decided to hold a book sale in July and managed to raise £165 for the Dogs Trust.

“It was a nice surprise to find out people had taken notice of what we had done.”

Provost Walker added, “We have a lot of wonderful young people in East Dunbartonshire who are making a positive contribution to their communities.

Emmajane and Jemma did a fantastic job raising money for charity and were worthy recipients of an award.