Highland award for Outstanding Achievement is 'celebration of Thurso and its volunteers'
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Joan Lawrie says her success in a Highland-wide award scheme for community groups should be seen as a celebration of Thurso and its volunteers.
Ms Lawrie, development manager of Thurso Community Development Trust (TCDT), won the Outstanding Achievement category of the Highland Third Sector Awards.
Trust board member Marion O’Brien, who was named as Volunteer of the Year, said the work of TCDT owed everything to the army of people who had pulled together to support the town.
The awards are run by the Highland Third Sector Interface (HTSI) and are described as the region's flagship ceremony for volunteers and community organisations.
Ms Lawrie said: "I was delighted to be the recipient of the Outstanding Achievement of the Year 2020 in the Highland Third Sector Awards.
"It has been a challenging year – at some points it was relentless in the scale of work being achieved. Launching into community support has been hugely fulfilling but also a lot of work.
"I led on community support for Thurso and we also assisted in Caithness West and Halkirk. On the surface TCDT looks like a slick operation – scratch that surface and what it actually involves are hours completing grant applications, paperwork, attending meetings, training volunteers, writing risk assessments, often until the very early hours, writing and planning in the evenings to be available for community, volunteers and staff during the day.
"I also assisted in planning and supporting other community support groups across Caithness.
"On top of this the day job goes on, and this past year I’ve supported and driven the Thurso Grows project, secured three-year core funding support for the trust, launched the Sharing Shed, secured funding for the initial feasibility of the Drill Hall as a community hub, written and designed the Thurso community magazine and business directory and delivered the Love Local, Love Thurso campaign, right down to the artwork!
"I am now working toward our recovery plan for the community in securing a new home for the trust in Thurso town centre and developing the Thurso greenhouses complex into a commercial growing and training centre for young people.
"I’m really delighted to receive the award as it recognises the hard work that I’ve put in not just in the past year but in the three years since we formed TCDT."
Ms Lawrie added: "I literally live and breathe community development and work hard for Thurso, because Thurso and its community deserve that work.
"I hope that winning the award can be seen as a celebration of Thurso, our volunteers and community as everything I do comes from a place of them sharing their views and needs. I just take them all and interpret them into the projects we develop, then go to battle with a plan and a funding application – not taking no for an answer until our community gets what it needs to thrive and develop."
Marion O’Brien said: "The last year has been one of the most interesting, stressful and rewarding years I've spent volunteering. In the blink of an eye, Thurso Community Development Trust found itself planning for the unimaginable and I was primed to do all I could to help.
"I was fortunate to remain working from home full-time which meant I spent evenings and weekends planning, preparing and executing the trust's communications with the community. This included fortnightly press releases, weekly blog articles, YouTube videos, daily social media posts and keeping in touch with volunteers in our various WhatsApp groups.
"At times there was an influx of information to deliver, some of it quite sensitive or complex, and so I worked hard to break things down into easily digested language and delivered it in a way which felt less formal and intimidating.
"It was really important that the trust was approachable in times when fear levels were high. The trust understood that not all members of the community are online and so, when we secured funding to offer a free community magazine and leaflet drop to every household in Thurso, we dug out maps, arranged volunteers and hit the pavements to make sure there was no letterbox unopened.
"At times the responsibility could get overwhelming but chatting to grateful residents and fellow volunteers made it all worthwhile."
Ms O'Brien added: "Winning this award has been lovely but it feels very strange to accept it as an individual. The volunteer numbers with Thurso Community Development Trust have skyrocketed since the pandemic and the teamwork has been inspiring.
"The achievements of the trust simply would not exist without the army of volunteers who pulled together to support Thurso throughout 2020 and into 2021. I am a very small cog in a very big machine!
"Getting stuck into volunteering has given me something to focus on which allowed me to block out the outside world – another reason why it seems bizarre to have won an award for something I already benefit from so much.
"Thank you to Joan Lawrie for the nomination and to the Highland Third Sector Interface for naming me as the Highland Volunteer of the Year. I share this award with all the Thurso volunteers who have worked tirelessly over the past year and continue to keep our residents not just safe but connected.
"Attending the awards ceremony was a really special evening which left me super-inspired by all the stories shared. I'm proud to be part of such an incredible community."
There was further recognition for TCDT with Hannah Rosie, a fourth-year pupil at Thurso High School, receiving a Youth Volunteer of the Year award.
Hannah (15) said: “I knew I had been nominated by Joan Lawrie for the award but I was absolutely shocked when I found out I was the joint winner of the Youth Volunteer of the Year award.
“In January 2020, we started the Youth Philanthropy Initiative [YPI] at school. It was Innes Morgan, a classmate and fellow YPI team member, who first introduced me to Joan and Thurso Community Development Trust.
“Due to Covid-19 the YPI scheme was cancelled and another initiative was launched in April 2020, Your Community Fund, and your chosen charity had to be responding to the Covid crisis. TCDT was doing exactly that, so myself and Innes wanted to continue with the presentation.”
Through this fund, up to 50 winning teams had the chance to receive £4000 for the charity they represented.
“We took on the challenge as £4000 is a lot of money for a local charity, and we won. We were absolutely delighted,” Hannah said.
“The money has gone towards the Sharing Shed which is supporting and benefiting our community in so many ways. It feels so rewarding knowing this.
“It was a privilege to write an article for the local community magazine about a young person’s view of life in Thurso during lockdown 2020. It was amazing to see my words in print.
“If you had said to me a year ago, that I would have written an article for the local community magazine, myself and Innes would have won £4000 in a national competition for a local charity, and that I would have won Youth Volunteer of the Year, I wouldn’t have believed you!
“I would like to thank Joan Lawrie for the nomination and also Marion O’Brien and guidance teacher Hayley Perrie-McCabe for all their help and support.”
Wick Paths Group won the Community Initiative category of the awards in recognition of the work carried out last year on the Coghill bridges at the town's riverside.
The county-wide community response to the pandemic was recognised with the Caithness Covid Resilience Group receiving the award for Community Cohesion Champion.
Award winners:
- HTSI Team Member of the Year: Roy Anderson
- HTSI Team Partner: Speedprint
- LGOWIT Self-Management Excellence Award: Tracy Collins
- Highland Community Justice Partnership Excellence Award: Apex Highland
- Covid Response Volunteer: Heather Fraser
- Community Cohesion Champion: Caithness Covid Resilience Group
- Covid Community Welfare Champion: Mikeysline
- Community Initiative: Wick Paths Group and Community Mental Health Support, Scourie Community Development Company
- Highland Partnership: National Autistic Society, CHIP+ and HC Pines Training Team
- Board Trustee of the Year: Cathy Christie and Patsy Rimell
- Social Enterprise of the Year: Highland Blindcraft
- Volunteer of the Year: Marion O’Brien
- Outstanding Achievement: Joan Lawrie
- Youth Volunteer of the Year: Hannah Rosie and Keegan Campbell
- Lifetime Achievement Award: Gillian Newman
- Judges' Recognition: Here to Help, Grantown-on-Spey
- Third Sector Organisation of the Year: Lochaber Hope
