The pride of the provost
Young sports leaders at Arran High School lifted the top award last Friday night at the Provost’s Civic Pride Awards 2018 in Irvine.
Disappointment turned to joy for the Arran pupils after they initially lost out on the sports award they were nominated for, losing out to North Ayrshire Athletics Club. But all that was forgotten when they picked up the final prize of the night chosen by Provost Ian Clarkson himself.
The annual event – held for the first time ever in the Portal, Irvine – was a celebration of the outstanding talent and generous community spirit which exists throughout North Ayrshire.
After weeks of public voting – with 10,000 votes being cast – Provost Clarkson had the honour of revealing the winners of each category before ending the night by announcing the winner of his own special Provost’s Award to the guests.
The provost said: ‘It’s been a fantastic night to celebrate our amazing finalists and a wonderful tribute to their hard work and dedication.
‘Sometimes, the work of those who enrich our communities can go unnoticed so it is a pleasure to be able to shine a light on their efforts and honour their work.
‘We are fortunate to have so many wonderful people whose dedication and enthusiasm have had a positive impact on the lives of local people. Everyone who has been involved in the civic pride awards – including the winners, finalists and nominees – should be very proud of their achievements.’
Arran High students Megan McNicol and Ellie Wood picked up the trophy for the Active Schools young leaders. Megan said: ‘We were quite shocked that we won because we didn’t win our section but it’s so nice that we’ve been recognised by the provost for what we do.
‘It was a big surprise and we would like to thank our ex-coordinator Archie McNicol who did a lot of work with us over the last few years and our new sports co-ordinator Andrew Brisco is helping to carry it on, and all the other young sports leaders as well.’
This year’s charity dinner also helped to raise more than £17,000 for two worthy charities - Cash for Kids and The Ayrshire Hospice. Since the awards first launched eight years ago, the fundraising total has now smashed through the £150,000 barrier for great causes.
Among the other winners on the night, the North Ayrshire citizen of the year award was won by Ryan Moir of the Largs Youth Theatre, who also picked up the arts and culture award. The young Citizen of the year was Ellie Hannah who is a young ambassador at Irvine’s Greenwood Academy.