Diced Cap Good Samaritan Awards 2008 21st February 2008 Compered by Gordon Townson (Chairman) A fantastic evening!!

This year's Diced Cap Good Samaritan Awards took place at the Marriott Hotel, Dyce, Aberdeen Whilst the venue changed this emotive event has not. With another powerful list of recipients whose stories of courage and selflessness are so very humbling! Event Photos - Click Here

THE DICED CAP GOOD SAMARITAN AWARDS 2008

These awards now in their sixth year are not a competition to say anyone is best but merely to recognise some of the excellent work that goes on and how some people carry on so bravely and achieve so much in the face of adversity. We are always keen to recognise good citizenship and the awards over the years have also proved an efficient vehicle to allow Diced Cap to cause positive awareness of a number of diversity issues. Event Photos - Click Here

Amidst the awards was a section entitled ‘ The Delta Challenge’ senior students representing 10 academies from across Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City who are engaged in this innovative Diced Cap driven ‘Enterprise in Education’ / Good Citizenship programme had the opportunity to hand over monies raised to representatives of their chosen charities.

Recipients of this year’s Good Samaritan Awards were:-

GEORGE COWIE (Posthumous Award)  George died in January 2007. He is to be recognised for his considerable generosity over many years supporting local charities long before the term CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility was coined . He and his friend John Coutts were founding directors of Printagraph some 34 years ago. They died within 4 years of one another from cancer. Both were unassuming men and John was equally generous himself being a recipient of a Good Samaritan Award in 2003. Printagraph as a company is also a ‘fellow’ of Diced Cap. George’s award is so fitting set amidst this generous and compassionate background.

THE INNES FAMILY  From Fraserburgh this family does not have its troubles to seek having 2 autistic sons Blair (12) and Blaine (4)  This causes a lot of hard work and much heartache. Moyra and Graeme and their other 2 older sons have all had to make sacrifices in their lives especially at present as they are totally focused in fundraising efforts to reach target figure of £20,000 to get both Blair and Blaine into the revolutionary Son Rise Programme in Massachusetts USA which has had outstanding successes in finding the key to the world of autism.

TOM MURRAY (Posthumous Award)  Grampian Police sadly lost one of its great characters who died of cancer aged 51 in February 2007. Constable Tom Murray affectionately known as ‘Big Tam’ was a gentle giant who was a devoted family man and a well liked community officer. A great rugby player his stature intimidated many 2nd row opposition players and he was generally very keen on sport. He used his sporting abilities to great effect to raise monies for charities on several hill walks and on one occasion cycled the breadth of Scotland to raise monies for research into autism a condition affecting one of his nephews.

PAUL O’CONNOR Chairman and Manager of Inchgarth Community Centre in Garthdee, Aberdeen Paul has captured the hearts of young and old , the able and the not so able who attend the centre . His pure dedication, commitment and compassion for others shines out and he inspires everyone around him.  He has been instrumental over the past several years in driving the things forward and taking Inchgarth to its now enviable position as a thriving community centre.

ABERDEEN SAFER COMMUNITY TRUST  is a somewhat unique charity delivering strongly across Aberdeen City on community safety. It never imposes any safety programmes on communities instead it helps them to carry forward their own ideas the message being ‘Community Safety for the people by the people’  Having  recently celebrated its 10th anniversary it continues to grow and evolve very  successfully.

GIVE KIDS A CHANCE  Is a project which was truly born out of adversity. Its aim is to provide opportunities to disadvantaged kids from across Grampian to engage on a regular basis in sport, drama, music etc away from their home environment in atmosphere / surroundings which give them a quality experience hopefully enhancing their quality of life and self esteem. This project has also recently celebrated its 10th year.

THE WAY TRUST  Is a  ‘Compassion Ministry’ which started in 2001 to help male ex-offenders and ex-substance misuse addicts back into employment. Its success has expanded and it now operates Straight-Way Ltd to support the men through a work employment programme and a women’s project Gateway @ Credo was recently launched in May 2007. These are real ‘hands on’ / ‘frontline’ initiatives and very worthy of recognition.

GAVIN SLESSOR  was involved several years ago in a very traumatic industrial accident which saw him lose part of an arm and leg. He has made a very brave recovery and has shown considerable compassion to a wide variety of people whom he has come into contact with during his involvement in supporting charity events and initiatives.  In particular he has done an inordinate amount of work in support of L.O.O.N.E.S  ( Limbless Organisation Of North East Scotland)

BOB BALLANTYNE (Posthumous Award) Bob survived the Piper Alpha Disaster of 1988 which made a major mark on his life but ironically was the ‘driver’ which fortunately gave us the Bob Ballantyne many of us had the honour to know. A committed family man he was a charismatic and determined character who made outstanding efforts in representing  and being the ‘voice’ of his fellow survivors and their families and for offshore workers in the North Sea Oil Industry in general. We also recognise the great community work he engaged in helping hard pressed communities of Aberdeen such as that of the Tillydrone area.  Sadly Bob died of natural causes in June 2004.

SCOTOIL SERVICES  is to be recognised with a ‘Diced Cap Fellowship’ for outstanding support of Diced Cap over many years. This will also mark the 5th anniversary of the death of the late Ian Davidson, Scotoil’s Managing Director who whose encouragement and inspiration planted the seeds of many of the Diced Cap projects which have since come to fruition.