03 Nov Volunteer Awards

The Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland held their Annual Public Meeting on Wednesday 1st November. The Mountains and The People is the flagship project of the Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland and during our public meeting we celebrated the contribution of volunteers. In the last year and a half, 178 people have volunteered on conservation tasks and given 2710 volunteer hours to improve 30 paths across our two National Parks. We also wanted to recognise volunteers who have contributed a great deal to the project and are happy to announce our three volunteer award winners.

James Gillies Volunteer of the Year – Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park 

James first started volunteering with The Mountains and The People in June 2016. Since then he has helped on numerous conservation work parties. He has helped to repair paths all over the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, including Ben A’an, Loch Katrine, Ben Ledi, Inversnaid and Milarochy Bay. In addition, James had also been involved in surveying paths working alongside another volunteer.  Recently James has also attended our Adopt a Path training and has adopted Ben Ime, adding another string to his volunteer bow! James is a great volunteer, he is always happy to be outside and usually brings some pretty good biscuits along to the volunteer days!

James Brownhill Volunteer of the Year – Cairngorms National Park 

James has been involved with the Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland for many years, before The Mountains and The People project started.  He was one of the early Adopt a Path volunteers and has been surveying the Dubh Loch path on the Balmoral Estate path since 2012.  He has also attended a number of conservation work parties in the Cairngorms at Loch Muick, Glenlivet Estate, Glen Tanar Estate and Glen Doll. He is great company to be around and is passionate about getting outdoors and wanting to give something back.

Euan Ramage Most Conservation Days

Euan has been involved with The Mountains and The People since June 2016. During this time he has volunteered on a staggering 14 different conservation work parties in both National Parks. He has helped at Corrie Fee, Ben Venue, Ben Ledi, Meall a’ Bhuachaille, Loch Muick, and Loch Chon.  Euan is a hard worker and has a reputation for being a machine among the other volunteers. He loves to get stuck in and has made a huge contribution to improving our mountain paths.

Thank you to everyone who has volunteered with us and well done to our award winners.