The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Honours for our Covid-19 heroes
VIRUS: Pair recognised for their amazing work in pandemic
Covid heroes and charity champions from across Perth and Kinross have been recognised in the year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
The annual awards announcement was delayed so people who stepped up during the pandemic could be honoured.
The local recipients include PKAVS worker Jennifer Keenan, who led the charity’s response to the 2 Sisters chicken factory outbreak in Coupar Angus and was made a BEM for her efforts during the pandemic.
Gavin Price, who began the Feldy Roo initiative in Aberfeldy which delivered more than 40,000 meals to housebound pensioners in Highland Perthshire and raised £137,000 in the fight against Covid-19, was made an MBE. He said it was recognition of all the work done by the Aberfeldy community.
“It really was a team effort, something the town should be really proud of,” he said.
Also among the MBEs was John Bullough, founding chairman of Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA).
The Scone-based charity attended 352 lifethreatening emergencies last year alone
John said: “What gives me the most joy is what a difference this project makes.”
People who have made exceptional contributions to society during the coronavirus pandemic have been recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
TV presenter Lorraine Kelly and curler Eve Muirhead are among those from other sections of society also honoured in the list.
The majority of the honours list was compiled before the pandemic but was deferred to consider nominations for people who played crucial roles during the first months of efforts to tackle Covid-19.
It has prioritised frontline and community heroes who went above and beyond their duties to help others.
Among those recognised are David Maguire, 62, from Glasgow, who repurposed his restaurant near the city’s Gartnavel Hospital to provide free food to thousands of NHS workers, vulnerable people and schoolchildren.
When he found out about the honour, Mr Maguire said: “I feel pretty overwhelmed. It took me by surprise and I’m really pleased for everybody in the organisation that I am associated with.”
Mr Maguire is made an MBE for services to the community in Glasgow during the C ovid -19 response.
Olivia Strong, 27, from Edinburgh, who raised more than £5 million for NHS charities through her Run for Heroes 5 km Challenge, said it was “really special” to be given an MBE.
She said it is for all the 1.5 million people inspired to run five kilometres, donate £5 and nominate five friends to do the same through the challenge, and the family and friends who helped set up the campaign.
Margaret Payne, 90, who climbed the height of the 731-metre mountain Suilven on her staircase to raise money for charity receives a British Empire Medal for services to the community in Lochinver.
She thanked all those who made donations, which started from £1, with the total now more than £434,000 including gift aid .“All those little donations have just built up to an enormous sum and it is amazing,” she said.
Alison Williams, a nurse who helped patients dying with coronavirus speak with their families for the last time, also receives the same medal for services to the NHS, charitable fundraising and volunteering during the pandemic.
The 41-year-old, a research nurse at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, set up her Rainbow Boxes charity at the height of the coronavirus pandemic after noticing many patients who arrived had no way of contacting loved ones.
Through social media she raised tens of thousands of pounds to provide essentials to people who found themselves suddenly in hospital with Covid-19.
Commenting on the medal, she said: “I felt very emotional and overwhelmed.”
Among those recognised in the non-Covid section of the honours list are Professor Muffy Calder, vice-principal and head of the College of Science and Engineering at Glasgow University, who is made a dame for services to research and education.
TV star Kelly is made a CBE for services to broadcasting, journalism and charity, while Muirhead becomes an MBE for services to curling.
The 30-year-old, a former junior and senior world champion who skipped her team to Olympic bronze in Sochi in 2014, told the PA news agency: “Being a skip comes with a lot of pressure and it’s been tough since I missed that shot for a medal in Pyeongchang, so to get something like this at this point in my career feels like a nice cherry on the top.”
Others honoured include Professor David John Webb, Christison professor of therapeutics and clinical pharmacology at Edinburgh University, who is made a CBE for services to clinical pharmacology research and education.
Ian Beattie, chairman of Scottish Athletics, is made an MBE for services to the sport.
When times seem bleak, strength can be drawn from the closest of places. This year’s honours list reminds us this – yet again a plethora of the great and the good being recognised for their work in our communities.
All across Courier Country, people have been acknowledged for their efforts, particularly during the pandemic and subsequent lockdown.
Whether it was making sure the hungry remained fed, the forgotten had someone to chat with or our towns, villages and cities remained united in their darkest hours, these heroes went truly above and beyond.
That so many are from our area is testament to the strength of character which comes to embody our particular part of the country.
The honours system is sometimes accused of being hamstrung – a reward arrangement for those in the upper echelons to thank each other at the exclusion of the rest.
But, with so many humble recipients named in the current list, their sole motivation in life helping those in need ahead of their own comfort in lots of cases, we can see there is just reward still for those who want the best for their fellow human beings and that these honours are just that – worth giving.
So, a hearty congratulations and thank you to all of those named on this year’s list in Perth and Kinross, Fife, Angus, Dundee, Scotland and beyond.