Some of the biggest heroes of the Western Isles Coronavirus pandemic response were honoured in Stornoway on Friday (4 December), during a quiet ceremony in Perceval Square.

The annual award formerly presented by the now-defunct Stornoway Amenity Trust for outstanding contribution to the community was shared between the Eilean Siar Foodbank and the Stornoway Corps of the Salvation Army, for their outstanding work over many years and especially during the Covid-19 crisis.

Now awarded by the Western Isles Lifestyle Lottery (WILL) team, the Newhall Shield was presented by Tony Robson of WILL to Stornoway’s new Salvation Army officers, Lieutenants Christopher and Faith Thompson, while Janet Paterson of WILL made the presentation to volunteers from the Eilean Siar Foodbank team.

Running a regular foodbank from Stornoway Golf Club and a baby bank of essential items were just some of the vital services delivered by the Salvation Army, while the Eilean Siar Foodbank had to gear up their operation for much more intensive need, at the same time as maintaining safe social distance by setting up a delivery network.

With so many people making exceptional contributions to community life in 2020, it was a difficult task to pick the recipients of the awards – but the task was made slightly easier by the addition of the new Nellie Macaskill Shield for services by an individual to the community.

The shield’s very first recipient was self-styled ‘candle blone’ Megan Macdonald from Sandwick Bay Candles, who took the business disruption of lockdown in her stride and turned her energy to community fundraising.

She organised an online auction in aid of Bethesda in April and turned in over £69,000 for the Stornoway hospice. Since then she has continued to contribute to community efforts, including making collections for the foodbank and creating candles and other products to help other organisations raise money.

Nellie Mackaskill herself presented Megan’s award on Friday. She has only recently retired at the age of 80 after decades as a servant of the community with Stornoway Amenity Trust, the Ladies’ Lifeboat Guild, Acres Boys Club and numerous other organisations.

Megan said: “I was absolutely honoured to be presented the Nellie Macaskill Shield by the lovely Nellie herself.”