Stuart is 25 years old, and has lots of challenges in his life including Aspergers Syndrome which limits his ability to fully communicate with others. He is however an absolutely selfless young man giving up time to help others including volunteering through Scottish Autism. He was awarded the Saltire Volunteering 500 hours Award, and has also achieved the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award.
South Lanarkshire was today played host to the Queen’s Baton Relay as it entered its ninth day in Scotland on its 40 day voyage around Scotland. It appeared as if the whole county came out to show their support for the batonbearers with thousands of spectators lining the streets to applaud the relay.
The Queen’s Baton Relay visited locations up and down the county including Law, Uddingston, Carluke, East Kilbride, Rutherglen and Bothwell. The day began in the idyllic surroundings of Lanark Loch and the relay will then headed north alongside the River Clyde before stopping at Carluke Leisure Centre, Law Primary School and East Kilbride Arts Centre. Then reaching Rutherglen and straddling the border between South Lanarkshire and the baton’s final destination, Glasgow, the baton headed through Calderglen Country Park, the sporting hub of South Lanarkshire before finishing in Hamilton.
In the preceding eight days of the relay Scotland has showcased some truly inspirational batonbearers and South Lanarkshire wascontinued this trend. Lyn Clark was driven to raise £25,000 for St Andrew's Hospice following her husband's death in 2005. Lyn wanted to raise money for those that had helped care for her husband in his final days. She has since trekked the Great Wall of China and the Canadian Rockies, climbed Ben Nevis and Kilimanjaro, jumped at 12,000ft from a plane, reached Machu Pichu and circumnavigated Mont Blanc Massif.
Energetic Shona Girdwood has been an athlete from the age of eight years old, competing for both Scotland and Great Britain in swimming and triathlon, winning medals at both world and European level. In the past 12 years Shona has got thousands of children and adults involved within sport through her work with SLLC and voluntary coaching.
Team Scotland bowler Margaret Letham brought a touch of Gold to the day’s proceedings. The Commonwealth athlete is hoping to win on home-soil in Glasgow following her 1998 Kuala Lumpur gold medal.
The relay ended in a colossal fanfare in Hamilton. Fireworks burst in the South Ayrshire sky and confetti cannons sprayed over 1000 South Lanarkshire residents who turned up to see the end of Day 9 celebrations. The day was capped with a batonbearer guard of honour as all the South Lanarkshire runners flanked the road to bring final baton bear Kenneth Mckay into the Hamilton Mausoleum amidst rapturous ovation.