Castlemilk Community Champions

The residents of Castlemilk can hold their heads high after sweeping two from six of the Glasgow south-east Community Champions awards at Langside Hall in June.

In truth, all of the short-listed nominees at the Evening Times sponsored event were winners, but it was the area of Castlemilk that came up in a positive light time after time.

The biggest cheer of the night came when Lord Provost Bob Winter announced the Team Award to Castlemilk Pensioners’ Action Centre.

The roof nearly came off when the call was made, and no less than 17 of the volunteers and staff took to the stage to collect their accolade, roared on by an audience of some 250.

The Castlemilk Pensioners’ Action Centre not only provides over 100 meals a day but offers recreation and day trips for the 500 users from the area.

Project co-ordinator, Melanie O’Donnell, 32, was delighted with the gong.

She said: ‘We are all absolutely over the moon. We have been going for 23 years, but this is the first time we have won an award.’

‘There was about 50 pensioners wanting to come down tonight, but we could only take so many.’

However, the pensioners back at the centre have all the mod-cons, and were kept up to speed, as Melanie explained.

She said: ‘The ones down here have been texting the folks back up the road and everyone is very, very pleased’.

Castlemilk also came up trumps when the Public Service Team Award was scooped by Castlemilk High School.

Other winners included; Mount Florida Primary 7 children who organised Flofest – a project aimed at championing multiculturalism, Staff nurse Cath Christie won the public service award and Allison Drummond won the Neighbourhood award.

And there was hardly a dry eye in the house when Mary Claire Boyce collected the award on behalf of her late father and former police man Charlie Boyce.