Prizes for city volunteers

Hundreds of young volunteers were honoured for their commitment to helping their local communities in Aberdeen.

Scores of people packed out the Beach Ballroom to watch as pupils received their Duke of Edinburgh awards last night.

Volunteer leaders from various schools and organisations were also awarded.

Volunteers and leaders contributed more than 78,000 hours to helping their communities over the past 12 months.

The ceremony was opened by Provost George Adam. He said it wasa “real pleasure” to hold an official Duke of Edinburgh ceremony in Aberdeen, where there hadn’t been one for a number of years.

Mr Adam s ai d t he awards embodied the spirit that was vital in helping build strong communities in the Granite City. He added: “These awards really do make a difference to the community, and they really do change lives – yourownandthose around you.”

The event host, Mark Pain, wider achievement manager at Aberdeen City Council, explained that a significant number of the 309 award recipients were unable to attend due to other commitments.

The provost then presented bronze awards to youngsters from 10 city secondary schools, as well as the international school, and the Aberdeen Open Awards Centre.

Oil tycoon Ian Suttie, who has been a long-term supporter of the awards, presented the silver awards to pupils from a number of schools, including Camphill.

Youngsters then collected the gold awards.

The event closed with the individual volunteering awards – Young Volunteer of the Year and Adult Volunteer of the Year went to Alexander Muir and Margaret Cooper, both from Harlaw Academy, while Dyce Academy picked up the Inspiration Award.

Photograph: Jim Irvine AWARDED: Adult volunteer winner Margaret Cooper and youth volunteer, Alex Muir.