It was a fantastic night of the good, the great, our country’s sporting heroes...and me
Over
the years, as you might expect, I have attended many an award dinner and charity fundraiser. Too many, if you were to ask my accountant, given the amount I usually end up spending.
All, bar the odd one or two, have been great events, glittering occasions, well run, well attended and, most importantly, desperately needed fundraisers for very deserving causes.
No more so than last week’s NRS Scottish Sporting Awards, the second such event held within the grounds of the sumptuous Prestonfield House Hotel, Edinburgh.
It was a belter of a star-studded occasion which again raised thousands of pounds in much-needed funds, for the music therapy charity Nordoff Robbins Scotland.
And I’m not just saying that because, to quote last week’s Sunday Post, media sponsors of the event, I am the brainchild, (child being the operative word here) behind the awards and also the long-standing co-chair of NRS.
No, it’s because, the feedback from the award-winners, sponsors and attendees has been absolutely glowing and 100% positive.
I’ve not heard a single bad word spoken about my onstage presentation of the NRS Sporting Ambassador Award to Scotland’s cycling superman, Mark Beaumont. Not a peep!
Maybe that’s because I’m deaf to any form of criticism and guests were stunned into silence that the least sporting man in the room was presenting the award to possibly the fittest man on the planet.
Presenter David Tanner, bless him, did an excellent job hosting the evening, and was beside himself, grinning from ear to ear, when he presented his hero, legendary commentator Archie Mcpherson, with a well-deserved Lifetime Achievement gong.
We had top golfer Stephen Gallacher deservedly recognised for his charity work with the Unsung Sporting Hero Award, which was presented to him by his uncle, golfing superstar and Sunday Post columnist, Bernard Gallacher.
International rugby giant, Al Kellock – and, believe me, he is a giant – was presented with the Outstanding Achievement In Sport award.
Scotland’s former rugby captain David Sole (another Sunday Post columnist) accepted the Sportsman Of The Year gong on behalf of Glasgow Warriors and Scotland’s Stuart Hogg.
And there were plenty of other winners. Sportswoman Of The Year went to brilliant footballer, Gemma Fay. Coach Of The Year – Adrienne Hunter, Sporting Breakthrough – boxer Josh Taylor, Extreme Sports – Danny Macaskill and Team Performance Of The Year – Scotland’s Men’s Hockey team. Paralympian table tennis champ Martin Perry scooped the Male Parasport Personality Of The Year and record-breaking Katie Ford pedalled home the deserved winner of Female Parasport Personality Of The Year.
Some of the biggest cheers of the night were for 18-year-old partially-sighted paralympic skier Millie Knight and her sighted guide Brett Wild when they easily slalomed home the winners of the Sporting Teamwork Award. The words brave and inspiring do not do this pair justice. They are absolutely magnificent and a credit to us all.
Singer-songwriter Stephanie Cheape also turned many a head when she and her band took to stage to entertain us all. What a talent this girl is. Brilliant!
But entertainment of another sort was certainly to be found at my table.
Hilarious quote of the night belonged to Helen Gallacher who said that her husband Stephen spread himself so thinly he can go places water can’t.
And Mark Beaumont nearly had us falling off our seats when he told his Sunday hobby is cycling around the cobbled, pot-holed and tram-lined streets of Edinburgh on a 19th Century, bottom-splitting, penny farthing.
I doubt he will be able to cycle around the world in under 80 days on that boneshaker. Then again with Mark you just never know.
Finally, David Tanner pointed out that he, Al Kellock, and Amy Macdonald were all former pupils of that great institute of learning . . . Bishopbriggs High School.
Implying it was a breeding ground for the rich and famous, I burst his bubble when I told him Donald Cameron Macleod was also a pupil – until I was expelled!
It was a truly fantastic night and I’m already looking forward to next year.