Edinburgh’s Inspiring Volunteers’ Announced
Robert Aldridge, Rt. Hon. Lord Provost of The City of Edinburgh honoured some of the dedicated volunteers who give their time, energy and commitment to the people of Edinburgh at a special awards ceremony at the City Chambers on Tuesday 4 June 2024.
Inspiring Volunteer Awards 2023 Winners | |
|---|---|
| Individual Awards * | -see programme- |
| Team Awards * | -see programme- |
| Special Recognition Awards * | -see below- |
| Paul Bennett Volunteer Manager of the Year Award | Kevin Radzynski, Volunteer Manager at Grassmarket Community Project |
| Ian McInnes Award for Inclusive Volunteering | Calton Welfare Services |
| Inspiring Volunteer of the Year | Heather Wallace, CEO Volunteer at Pain Concern |
| Sir William Darling Award | Presented by Edinburgh and Lothian Trust Fund to Heather Wallace, Inspiring Volunteer of the Year |
* Full details of the winners for these award categories are provided in the programme available via the button below or in the sidebar. | |
Now in its eighteenth year, Edinburgh’s Inspiring Volunteer Awards reflect the exceptional range of organisations and individuals working in the city’s vibrant charity and non-profit sectors.
If you would like to post about the awards on social media please use the hashtag #iva2024.
Honour Board in the City Chambers
On Tuesday 3 June 2015, the Lord Provost unveiled an Honour Board he commissioned which lists previous winners of the Lord Provost’s Inspiring Volunteer of the Year award since its inception in 2008. And it is intended to add to it each year as new winners are chosen.
The board is displayed in the City Chambers and this years winner will be added following the awards ceremony. You can read more about the Honour Board on our site here.
The honour board at the City Chambers of the winners of the Inspiring Volunteer of the Year award.
Lord Provost’s Inspiring Volunteer of the Year
This year the Inspiring Volunteer of the Year was awarded toHeather Wallace of Pain Concern.
Below is a short film about Heather and Pain Concern, and you can find all our Inspiring Volunteer of the Year films from past ceremonies in our YouTube playlist here.
Special Recognition Awards
Like last year, we had 11 special recognition categories for volunteers involved in specific areas of activity.
Special Recognition Awards Winners | |
|---|---|
| Arts, Culture and Heritage Volunteer | Douglas J.A. Roxburgh MBE, Visitor Guide at St Giles’ Cathedral |
| Charity Shop Volunteer | Stephen Horton, Charity Shop Supervisor at Corstorphine Community Centre |
| Digital Volunteer | David Liddle, Moose in the Hoose Volunteer at ACE IT Scotland |
| Environment/Conservation Volunteer | Alex Edwards, Handyman at WHALE Arts |
| Fundraising Volunteer | Laura Munro, Tin collector, Fundraising and Events, Youth and Philanthropy Initiative Volunteer, Staff Café and Hospitality Team volunteer at St Columba’s Hospice Care |
| Health and Social Care Volunteer | Nathan MacQueen, Peer Support Volunteer & Ambassador at Spinal Injuries Scotland |
| Long Standing Contribution to Volunteering Award | Ann Wood, Admin Volunteer at St Columba’s Hospice Care |
| Sports Volunteer | Thomas Barton, Head of Youth Hockey at Inverleith Hockey Club |
| Team of the Year | Meet & Eat Team at Fresh Start |
| Trustee Volunteer | Bill Plummer, Trustee at Corstorphine Community Centre |
| Young Volunteer | Jennifer Veitch, Hub and Arts Volunteer at Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity |
Ian McInnes Award for Inclusive Volunteering
Ian McInnes at Volunteer Edinburgh.
Awarded to a Volunteer Involving Organisation in memory of Ian McInnes (1969 to 2017) in recognition of their contribution to improving equality and accessibility in volunteering.
This may be as a result of their creative approaches to reaching and recruiting volunteers; their flexible and inclusive ways of engaging with and supporting volunteers or how they share these techniques with other organisations to improve volunteering for all.
Calton Welfare Services received the award at the City Chambers this year in recognition of their very real and important commitment to their volunteers.
Ian’s family and Volunteer Edinburgh very much hope that the Ian McInnes Award will encourage other organisations to think the same way and create roles for volunteers no matter what issues those volunteers have. As Ian would have said, “just go for it” as you never know what positive experiences it might lead to for both the organisation and the volunteer!
You can find out more about this award and view a list of previous recipients here.
Paul Bennett Volunteer Manager of the Year Award
Paul Bennett, after which the Volunteer Manager of the Year Award is named, with his twin girls Jessica and Jasmine.
On 7 August 2020 we lost our much loved friend and colleague Paul Bennett, following a short illness. He was only 49. To many people Paul was the first person that they would meet when they came into Volunteer Edinburgh and to many organisations he was the guy who helped them craft their adverts to make sure they were as effective as possible.
Paul was a constant fixture at our Inspiring Volunteer Award ceremony, putting his photography skills to good use each year making sure that every award recipient had their moment captured. He was also always on hand to offer advice and guidance to volunteer managers, helping them and answering their volunteer management questions.
Volunteer Managers are often the unsung heroes in the volunteering world. They encourage, nurture and help make volunteering a truly amazing thing. In Paul’s memory, we introduced the ‘Paul Bennett Volunteer Manager of the Year Award‘. This award is open to any volunteer manager, paid or unpaid, who makes an outstanding contribution to volunteering in Edinburgh.
The recipient of the award this year was Kevin Radzynski of Grassmarket Community Project.
Individual and Team Awards
In addition to the awards detailed above, a number of individuals and teams from across the city also received an award in recognition of their contributions. You can find out about all the awardees who attended the ceremony in the programme here.
Looking Back at Past Ceremonies
In 2020, for obvious reasons and to our great disappointment, we were not able to host our annual Inspiring Volunteer Awards. Instead the Inspiring Volunteer of the Year 2020 was awarded to The Citizens in recognition of the enormous contribution volunteers across the city made throughout the pandemic. You can find out more about this on our site here.
Bipolar Edinburgh received the Ian McInnes award at the City chambers last year in recognition of their very real and important commitment to their volunteers.
You can download the programme for the Inspiring Volunteer Awards 2023 here and view photos from the ceremony in 2023 on our Facebook page here.
