MIRO volunteers 'proud' after attending Royal garden party last month
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TWO volunteers from Moray Inshore Rescue Organisation (MIRO), based in Findhorn, have expressed their pride after attending the prestigious Royal garden party at the Palace of Holyroodhouse last month.
Senior coxswain Simon Paterson and Helm Alastair Macdonald (Attie) attended the event on Wednesday June 29 alongside Prince Charles, The Princess Royal and the Earl and Countess of Wessex and Forfar.
There, people from across Scotland were recognised for their significant contributions to their communities.
John Low, MIRO chairman, said: "On June 2 MIRO was awarded The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK. It is regarded as the ‘MBE’ for voluntary organisations.
"It really was a great honour to receive this award and we were very privileged that HRH the Princess Royal came to Findhorn in October 2021 to present our award and meet our volunteers.
"Due to the Covid pandemic, there were no royal garden parties in 2020 or 2021, however, in January we received an invitation for two volunteers from MIRO to attend the 2022 garden party at Holyroodhouse.
"I am delighted that Simon and Attie were able to attend on behalf of the MIRO team."
Simon and Attie were joined by other deserving volunteers from Moray at the event after the gates opened at 3pm. Luckily for the pair and the other attendees, the rain held off and the sun made an appearance on their special day.
Simon said: "I am glad that Attie and I had the opportunity to represent MIRO at the garden party.
"It was a very enjoyable day. An added pleasure for me was that my wife, Katrina, was also at the garden party, having received her own invitation.”
Attie added: "Simon and I were very proud and privileged to represent MIRO at such a prestigious event.
"Tea was served in the main tent from 3.30pm until 5.30pm, following which the national anthem announced the arrival of the royals.
"We also met a variety of people from Moray who had all been invited for a variety of volunteering reasons."
MIRO volunteers have responded to 5 emergency callouts this year. They responded to 29 incidents in 2021 and 25 incidents in 2020. Incidents included searches for missing persons, helping paddle boarders, wild swimmers, kayakers, kite surfers and sailors in difficulty, as well as members of the public and their animals cut off by the tide.
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