Willie McAulay, Bob Aitken Service to Shooting Winner 2019
STS is delighted to announce that the 2019 winner of the Bob Aitken Service to Shooting Award is Willie McAulay.
Willie has always put the needs of the club and shooting before all else including his personal life. He has served as Treasurer and Secretary of Alloa & District Rifle Club for 30 years, he coaches both the rifle and air weapon shooters and in recent years, working with STS, he has been leading the way with disabled shooting working with the spinal injury unit at the new Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, coaching those with spinal injuries, and resulting in some of them taking up the sport when leaving hospital. On the back of this involvement, Willie has also been coaching the dwarf shooters that visit the range monthly for training and have had considerable success at their competitions they attend.
Willie shows a never-ending passion for the sport and has done a lot to help young people in and around Clackmannanshire and Alloa (and further afield!), working with different Scout groups to help them achieve their badges and have a go at the sport.
Willie coaching the Dwarfs Sports Association athletes at the Alloa & District Rifle Club
Willie is not only confined to the premises of the club, he was a big help to STS when running a session on Princes Street during the Rio Olympics and much more recently, he is also now working with Sports Development team in Clackmannanshire to get out into the local community and introduce the sport to people yet to give it a go.
He will be the first to admit that his shooting has declined because he doesn’t have the time but gets a lot of satisfaction from helping others. In addition to his numerous shooting trophies over the years, his tireless efforts have resulted in him winning services to sport awards from SALSC and the local area for all he does for shooting, but also sport in the area.
As his own club members say: “I don’t know how he manages it all but I don’t know anybody else that puts as much into shooting as Willie does.”
A truly deserving winner for everything he does for grassroots shooting and Alloa and District Rifle Club, the 2019 recipient of the Bob Aitken Service to Shooting Award is Willie McAulay.
About Bob Aitken
Find out more about Bob Aitken, winners from previous years and how to nominate for next year by clicking on the text below:
Following Bob Aitken’s death in October 2016, Scottish Target Shooting wanted to recognise the fantastic contribution which Bob made to the sport of Target Shooting in both Scotland and further afield. We have decided that a fitting celebration of Bob’s contribution to Target Shooting in Scotland would be to have an award in his name – the Bob Aitken Service to Shooting Award – in recognition of people who have served the sport over a number of years, just as Bob did. We feel that this is a fitting way of remembering all Bob has done for our sport on a yearly basis and using this to also recognise the service of others. The first presentation of the award was made in 2017.