STONEHAVEN recognised its heroes and outstanding volunteers last night at an awards presentation hosted by our community council with STV North News Presenter Andrea Brymer
Number 44 kindly provided the venue along with snacks and refreshments, while Brickfield Motors sponsored the trophies for an evening introduced by Alistair Lawrie and Brian Menzies of Stonehaven and District Community Council.
It was a relaxed and celebratory event. Mr Lawrie introduced the evening saying he has overseen both the Hannah Dyson Award and the Community Award for 18 years. He said it was a delight each year to make the awards to members of the community but particularly to youngsters.
And the ‘youngster’ awarded this year’s Hannah Dyson Award was Oscar Lawson. Ms Brymer regaled the audience with an account of the caring roles undertaken by Oscar for his family along with his impressive achievements in mathematics.
‘That is why Oscar is the perfect recipient of this year’s Hannah Dyson Award,” she said.
Oscar said he was delighted to receive the Hannah Dyson Award – which his older sister Phoebe also received in 2023. He is now looking forward to starting his degree at St Andrew’s University in September.
Community Awards
Nola de Garis was the first community hero to step up for her award earned by making a life-saving dash into a smoke filled building to rescue a sleeping occupant. David Bennett accompanied Ms de Garis to the ceremony and shared his thanks for her actions saying he would have been badly affected by the smoke had she not woken him and helped him out.
After the 4am rescue, Ms de Garis took Mr Bennett to her home until the firemen were able to extinguish the fire in a neighbouring property and declare his Barclay Street flat safe to return to.
Sea Cadet success
TS Carron has gone from strength to strength since the arrival of Maria Coll, who now serves as Commanding Officer of Stonehaven Sea Cadets.
Presenting the award, Ms Brymer said: ””The impact of her work is clear—where the unit previously had approximately 20–30 cadets, it has now grown to over 70. This growth reflects her dedication, leadership, and ability to inspire and support young people. Maria’s commitment to developing the unit and supporting cadets has made a positive and lasting impact on the Stonehaven community.”
Receiving her award, Ms Coll said she was honoured to accept it and she thanked all the volunteers and the unit management team and the cadets themselves.
Team work
The theme of team work continued when Ms Brymer went on to present local pharmacist Paul Dunlop with his award – to the sound of cheering and clapping from grateful customers in the audience.
Ms Brymer said there was a significant number of people in Stonehaven who wanted Mr Dunlop’s above and beyond approach to his customers recognised.
Mr Dunlop brought with him his full team from Charles Michies – including his wife who works in the Aberdeen store. And while accepting his trophy, he thanked his colleagues, saying they did all the work.
Andrea Brymer laughed at the pharmacist’s modest assertions – and said she thought he probably did more that he was willing to take credit for.
Group Award – expressing Stoney’s thanks
It was smiles all round as the team behind the Stonehaven land Train stepped up to receive their group award. Ms Brymer said she had seen pictures of it in action at the recent beer festival.
”Talk about travelling in style,” she said, ”I love it.”
Ms Brymer noted the Stoney Express’s Special theme days – such as the Halloween Express and the Abba outing added an extra dimension. And in addition to their public outings, she said, the Stoney Express has developed a community service role offering tours to older folks and community groups – all done with a smile and a toot!
She added: ”I always love seeing the land train go past and always give it a wave.”
One of the Stoney Express team was missing at last night’s awards – Garry Brindley is in America supporting Scotland’s football team, so a photo was used as a stand in.
Feature image – all the award winners at last night’s ceremony. Thanks to Jim Stephen for his photography.