Last week, on Tuesday 3 June 2025, we had the honour of bringing back our much-loved Volunteering Awards Ceremony for 2025. Opening the event, CEO, Victoria McRae highlighted:

“Tonight, we gather not just to hand out awards, but to express our deepest gratitude to the volunteers who have generously given their time, expertise, knowledge and commitment with kindness, compassion and dedication to help others and to make our communities a better place to live.”

The Awards Ceremony is a great example of just how important volunteering is to our local community, with a record 111 nominations this year across the 6 award categories. Our 2025 nominees are emblematic of the many individuals and organisations committed to ensuring the Falkirk District continues to develop and improve – and with this in mind, CONGRATULATIONS to our Winners and our Nominees. You all inspire us daily, and we are so thankful to have been able to celebrate you all. Watching you support each other through social media and on the night, and utilise this opportunity to celebrate all volunteers truly demonstrates the strength of community and positivity flooding our third sector.

The CVS Falkirk & District 2025 Volunteering Award winners are:

• Green Award: 3rd Bo’ness Scout Group
• Health and Wellbeing Award: Slamannan Action Group
• Young Volunteer of the Year: Liam Landsman, Food Train
• Volunteer of the Year: John Somerville, Forth Valley Sensory Centre
• Organisation of the Year: Bailliefields Community Hub
• Lifetime Achievement Award: Murray McIntyre, Falkirk Foundation Blind Club

Choosing our Award Winners is never an easy task, and we are so grateful to our independent panel for their time and dedication in selecting our winners. This year, we were delighted to accept their request to create a ‘Highly Commended’ Lifetime Achievement Award for Agnes Forsyth.

Showcasing the gravitas of the evening, guests were welcomed by local group, the Red Hot Kiddie Pipers. Consisting of Harris, Robbie and Magnus, they are an exceptional example of young talent – with recent performances also including the Tartan Day Parade in New York as part of Falkirk Schools Pipe Band. Also performing were the wonderful ladies of the Bo’ness Belles who, through song, aim to combat loneliness in the elderly and fundraise for a variety of causes. All members of the Belles are volunteers and give up their time every week for rehearsals, care homes and events like this – purely for the love of it.

Following these performances, CVS Falkirk & District also featured two guest speakers who through their own experiences, highlighted the value of volunteering personally and professionally. Showcasing the necessity of their volunteers, Chris Gunn from Falkirk Foundation spoke on the range of projects they deliver, using “the power of football to engage with everyone in the local community” – and how their team of more than 100 volunteers enables these projects to thrive with over 34,560 volunteer hours contributed in 2024 by dedicated individuals supporting various community-focused projects.

Young volunteer, Charlotte Askham, shared how after becoming disabled four years ago, her journey towards and through volunteering has shaped her perspective and provided a new life path she could never have imagined:
“One of my proudest achievements is reaching over 1,000 hours of volunteering through the Saltire Awards. Those hours represent time, energy, care—and a deep belief that giving back matters. Coaching and volunteering haven’t just shaped me professionally—they’ve helped me grow as a person. I’ve found confidence, a strong sense of self, and a community that has lifted me higher than I could have ever imagined.”

Charlotte’s sentiment is echoed by many of the volunteers we engage with across the third sector, each recognising how they have been shaped by the experiences found within volunteering. Her speech also highlighted our key takeaway from the evening: “the most powerful stories often come from quiet, everyday moments”.

Many of our nominees and award winners will protest they do not do what they do for recognition or celebration, simply to do what is right for their communities. Volunteering is simply another part of their day – however it is our privilege to honour the power of their stories and celebrate the great impact they all create. And for this, we say once more, THANK YOU and congratulations.

Closing the ceremony, we were excited to share a very special message from Grangemouth’s own, presenter, Kaye Addams:
“I just wanted to show my appreciation for everything you do in the local community. It just wouldn’t be the same without you. There is too much focus on the bad stuff out there, but YOU are the good stuff. I hope you have an absolutely amazing night tonight, and once again, thank you for everything that you do!”

It is hard to believe that the above encapsulates only a small fraction of the many individuals and organisations going above and beyond for their communities. Each year, we aim to acknowledge the collective effort of every single volunteer whose actions, big and small, have made a lasting impact through our ‘Celebrating Volunteering’ initiative, which this year delivered a record 1,374 certificates across the Falkirk District.

Our Awards Ceremony would not be possible without the efforts of our own great team, and those organisations who have supported us throughout – whether donating spot prizes, printing our publications, or supporting our team on the night to pull off such a success.

Without the extensive network of volunteers – the heroes behind the scenes, the beating hearts of our communities – we would not have the rich culture and community spirit that we all thrive on. And it is for this, that we say once more,