Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Day 2008

Spinal Injuries Scotland held its first ever awards ceremony at the Sheraton Hotel in Edinburgh on Friday 16th May this year-to coincide with Spinal Injuries Awareness Day. Everyone at SIS were delighted that Digby Brown (Personal Injury Solicitors) sponsored the event.

It had long been felt that the contribution made by individuals to the organisation and more importantly, the spinally injured community whom we serve, was worthy of recognition.

It was with this in mind that a prestige venue was sought to hold the prize-giving lunch and very appropriately the prizes were created by one of SIS' members, Ike Curran from Wheelchair Woodturners.

The worthy recipients of the prizes were:

Francis EJ McCrossin CA FRCPS - “Lifetime Achievement Award”
In recognition of his more than 40 years of unpaid service to the charity; Francis guided SIS through many years and many changes and was always a valued member of governing council as well as ensuring the charity's finances were in order through his role as Treasurer. Francis retired from SIS at the end of 2007 and it was a strict "no contest" when deciding the recipient of this award. Mr David Allan, Clinical Director QENSIU presented Francis with his award.

Peter Joyce - “Volunteer of the Year 2008”
Peter recently became active within SIS and now forms part of the team who visit the QENSIU to speak with current patients. As a C5 complete tetraplegic for the last 25 years, Peter has brought a wealth of experience to the charity. He represents SIS on a variety of boards and committees to make sure the viewpoint of people living with spinal injury is widely heard. Peter graciously acknowledged that he formed part of a valuable team of volunteers and that he was accepting the award on behalf of the whole team. Margaret McKillop the Clinical Services Manager from the QENSIU made the presentation to Peter.

The Gordon Schools Huntly - “Fundraiser of the Year 2008”
As a direct result of our association with the Grampian Police Diced Cap Trust, the Gordon Schools of Huntly chose SIS to fundraise for in 2008. Through many ingenious and entertaining methods the school students, having been tasked with the daunting prospect of raising £2,500, raised the extraordinary sum of £6,700; a truly fantastic effort. Robert Swanney, Senior Partner of Digby Brown Solicitors was rightly fulsome in his praise of the Gordon Schools when presenting the award to them.