Lieutenant Colonel Lee Curson, Commanding Officer of 6 SCOTS, a Reserve Battalion within The Royal Regiment of Scotland, took to the stage to present the ERS Bronze and Silver Awards on behalf of the Ministry of Defence. 

Among those presented was Ayr Housing Aid Centre, a charitable organisation committed to helping residents throughout South Ayrshire with housing issues by providing free and independent services.  

Suzanne Slavin, Ayr Housing Aid Centre’s CEO, said: “We’ve always been really passionate about helping service personnel, it’s always been a fundamental part of what we believe in as a charity.

“We help a lot of people in the local area who are either in the Armed Forces or have served previously by offering them free housing advice, so signing the Covenant was a move that just made a lot of sense to us.”

Speaking about receiving the Bronze Award for Ayr Housing Aid Centre at Turnberry, Ms Slavin continued: “I’ve never been here before so it’s certainly a treat and a very nice way to start the day! There’s a great atmosphere in the room and it’s lovely to be recognised alongside so many other Forces-friendly companies, some of whom are also based in Ayrshire.

“We’ve spoken with quite a few other organisations this morning, and we’re hoping that this event will help us to raise awareness around the fact that homelessness can happen to anyone, and to generate some additional support for the services we provide, so it’s been a very beneficial day on multiple fronts.”

Following the award presentations, Scottish Engineering chief executive Paul Sheerin paid tribute to the company’s former President, Mr John Campbell, for his long-running advocacy of the Armed Forces Community across the Lowland engineering sector and beyond.