Stenhousemuir Football Club and Thomas Davidson, First Team Coach at Cartha Queens Park Rugby Club have been named as our Team Scotland Stars award winners for July.

First launched in June of this year, Team Scotland Stars is a monthly award to recognise those going above and beyond to help others through the Coronavirus pandemic. The response to the awards has been overwhelming with inspiring nominations and thousands voting in the online polls.

From an impressive list of deserving nominations, Stenhousemuir FC topped the public vote in the Group/Organisation category ahead of runners-up Greenock Boxing Club, Edinburgh Athletic Club and West Lothian Gymnastics Club.

Stenhousemuir have coordinated one of the largest community initiatives in Scotland, involving almost 200 volunteers providing support to 350 vulnerable households every week. This includes shopping and prescription collection, the delivery of over 11,500 school lunches to children qualifying for free school meals, producing over 3,000 free home-cooked meals and 1,400 food parcels, a befriending group and library service.

Their effort has made a huge difference to their local community through these difficult times and the club now wants to continue to provide weekly services for vulnerable people on a permanent basis. Half the money raised from their weekly lottery goes towards safeguarding the club and the other half is being used to extend their community help service.

In the Individual category it was Cartha Queens Park’s first team coach Thomas Davidson who took the public vote and July’s Team Scotland Stars award.

Thomas has been a real innovator during lockdown, ensuring all players and club members have been kept involved and engaged. He created Cartha TV and kept all players involved by creating Clans that take part in weekly activities such as fitness challenges, Clan Come Dine With Me, and Clan Tik Toks. He has also worked hard to create Return to Play guidelines for the club to ensure that all the new protocols are understood and adhered to. His love for the club, attention to detail and care for player welfare gave him the nod over runners-up Mark McGuire, Hannah Miley and Richard Brickley.

Huge congratulations to our winners and to all our finalists and nominees, it’s amazing to see the good work being done by the Scottish sporting community in the face of these unprecedented circumstances.

Do you know an individual, group or organisation that deserves their moment in the limelight? Help us find the people making a real difference in these challenging times! Click here to nominate your choice for a Team Scotland Stars Award in August!