A TOP European athlete has picked up a prestigious award celebrating the very best of Dunbar.
Corey Campbell, who is ranked number one in Europe and third in the world for the men’s under-18s 3,000m, was presented with the Bowe Cup.
Dunbar Community Council’s awards have had to take place virtually for the last two years.
However, Dunbar Town House was packed with some of the best the town has to offer on Monday evening.
Pippa Swan, chairwoman of the community council, was delighted that the event could return in its traditional format as Covid-19 restrictions were eased.
She said: “It was absolutely wonderful.
“It was great to be back in the Town House, it was lovely to see the Town House full and I am always just so incredibly moved really by how much people do on a voluntary basis just because they care.
“The contributions were so wide-ranging but every one was hugely valuable.”
George Robertson, previously chairman of Dunbar and East Linton Area Partnership, received the Community Council Award for his work in response to the coronavirus pandemic, while Dunbar Dementia Network was presented with the Stephen Bunyan Award.
Citizen Awards went to Karen Dietz and Sandy Mitchell, and Young Citizen Team Awards went to Dunbar Grammar School charity committee and the school’s basketball coaching team.
Finally, Citizen Team Awards were handed over to representatives from Dunbar Leisure Pool Swim Coaching Team and Dunbar Wombles.
Corey is the Scottish national U17 cross-country champion, the current U17 1,500m English indoor champion and the current Scottish Secondary Schools road champion.
The 15-year-old described winning the award as “a nice surprise”.
The George Heriot’s School pupil said: “Going forward, I would like to take it all and see it as far as I can go.
“Hopefully, fingers crossed, I am aiming for selection for the European Athletics Under-18s Championships in Jerusalem between July 3 and 7.”
Mr Robertson, who was previously a member of the town’s community council, led the community resilience team when the coronavirus pandemic struck.
Managing a team of 200 volunteers, he helped support hundreds of families as they dealt with lockdown, working to provide funding, food, transport and IT equipment to enable families to function.
He said: “It is a great honour and really I was surprised because I did not expect it.
“It is lovely and very nice to be acknowledged, really.
“It has been a very strange few years. It is almost surreal the things that went on but, to be honest, all I did was help to organise the team.
“The people of Dunbar stepped forward and that was all credit to the people of Dunbar.
“What was equally satisfying was the campaign for surplus laptops.
“That was a big success and we had about 200 laptops that were refurbished and redistributed to the local schools and youth groups.”
Dunbar Dementia Network also faced challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Alasdair Swan, treasurer of the community council, said that the charity found “ingenious ways” to continue to support one another.
Lorna Bunney, group co-ordinator, was delighted to receive the award.
She said: “It is an absolute privilege and an honour.
“It is really, really nice and lovely for the group as a whole, our core group and volunteers.
“I’m consistently amazed at how folks living with a diagnosis of a dementia-related condition, in addition to the everyday challenges, just the way they came through Covid and adapted.
“It has been a challenging time.
“Lots of folk have lost confidence, lost mobility and seen loved ones going into care or hospitalised.
“Just the way all the carers have coped in trying circumstances – I am absolutely amazed.”
Karen Dietz, who was unable to attend the awards ceremony, founded community choir Dunbar Sings, while Sandy Mitchell recently retired as a volunteer first responder with the Scottish Ambulance Service in Dunbar after volunteering thousands of hours of his time.
He also ran the 1st Dunbar Boys’ Brigade and now offers his skills and expertise to Dunbar Sea Cadets.
Eve Allan, Isla Henderson and Abigail Sheridan represented Dunbar Grammar School’s charity committee.
The group has raised more than £10,000 for a variety of good causes, including Children in Need, Cancer Research and mental health charities.
Meanwhile, fellow Dunbar Grammar School pupils Benji Salkeld, Alastair Zochowski, Sol Hampshire, Joel Carlton and Ewan Cowe were recognised for bringing basketball to an ever-increasing number of pupils at the school.
Finally, representatives from Dunbar Leisure Pool Swim Coaching Team were praised for their work in teaching hundreds of children to swim, and Dunbar Wombles were praised for their litter picking, which goes “almost entirely under the radar”.
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