COUNCIL SEARCHES FOR UNSUNG SPORTS VOLUNTEERS

People in Argyll and Bute are being encouraged to submit their nominations for the Argyll and Bute Sports Volunteer Awards 2010.

The awards, now in their fourth year, recognise the vital contribution which volunteers make to sporting life in the community.

The 2010 awards have four main categories – Adult Volunteer, Junior Volunteer, Sports Organisation and, for the first time, Sports Event.

In addition, nominations are invited for adult and junior volunteers in each of the Council’s four administrative areas – Bute and Cowal, Helensburgh and Lomond, Oban, Lorn and the Isles and Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands.

Argyll and Bute’s spokesperson for Arts, Culture, Leisure and Sport, Councillor Neil Mackay, urged residents to make their nominations.

“These awards recognise people who give up their own time – often an enormous amount of it – for nothing more than the satisfaction of enabling others to enjoy sport,” he said.

“Sport without volunteers would be extremely limited. Yet in Argyll and Bute sport and physical activity in general is thriving, largely thanks to the vast contribution which volunteers make.

“So many people give up their own time to coach, officiate, administer and organise, and together they ensure that this area has one of the healthiest statistics for volunteering in the country.

“This is the time of year when we look to recognise these unsung heroes by asking people to nominate those who make such an effort to bring sport into their communities.

“It is always a very difficult job to do to pick the eventual winners from the many individuals and organisations put forward. I am sure that this year will be no exception.”

Past winners include Oban Saints AFC, Fiona Irwin from Campbeltown’s Wee Toon Runners, Duncan Aitken of the Argyll and Bute Rugby Pathways Programme and Katherine McNaughton of Islay and Jura Dolphins.

Nomination forms are available from Leisure Centres, Schools and Active Schools programmes, on the front page of the Council’s website at www.argyll-bute.gov.uk or by emailing sportscoaching@argyll-bute.gov.uk.

Nominations close on May 14. The winners will be announced by the Council and its partner Argyll Voluntary Action at the Volunteer Week Awards in June 2010.