EMCOR Site Manager Wins BBC Sports Award
EMCOR Facilities Services employee, Jim Hodge, has won the BBC's Scotland Unsung Hero of the Year Award and the Sunday Mail's Scottish Sports Volunteer of the Year award for his outstanding contribution in helping to create a superb sports facility in the Ayrshire town of Kilwinning.
Jim also made it to the shortlist of the BBC's national 'Sports Personality of the Year' Unsung Hero award ceremony featured in the ceremony broadcast on BBC1 last Sunday evening (10 December). His story was featured on the show alongside the two other nominees.
46 year old Jim is a Site Manager for EMCOR at NATS (formally known as National Air Traffic Services) in Prestwick, but his evenings and weekends for the last six years have been spent tirelessly fund raising and campaigning to transform the provision of sporting facilities in his home town.
After being forced to retire from professional football with Scottish League side Kilmarnock through injury, Jim – now a father of five grown up children – began working with local children in his neighbourhood, setting up a football team, entering them into a local league and successfully applying for grant aid. However, he soon became disillusioned with the quality of facilities and the condition of the pitches.
This lead him to galvanise all the local teams together to approach the local authority with one voice. He also took up Kilwinning's case with the Scottish Football Association which, at the time, was looking to support clubs run by the community and enlisted its help to guide him through the process. Through his persistence and dogged determination Kilwinning Community Sports Club was born.
Jim has also been honoured for his sporting achievements by EMCOR, which awarded Jim with its coveted International Diamond award, given in recognition for his vision and ongoing community relations work. Jim recently travelled to Scottsdale, Arizona, where he was presented with his award by global Chairman and CEO, Frank T MacInnis at the Annual CEO Conference.
Commenting on why Jim was awarded the International Diamond Award, Christopher Kehoe, Director of Aerospace, Defence and Nuclear, EMCOR Facilities Services said:
'Jim's endeavour and commitment has brought a well needed resource into his local community and provided a positive outlet for the local youth'.
The Club, situated in the Pennyburn area of Kilwinning – deemed in the top five per cent of areas of deprivation in Scotland – covers approximately 110,000 sq metres and thanks to Jim's efforts now includes: 8 full-time & 2 part time employees, Training for Work programmes, modern changing facilities, 15 pitches, 40 football teams, four girls teams, youth and adult leagues, a golf section and Family Golf Centre, fitness suite, netball section, a pitch and putt course, a walking club, floodlit training facilities & classroom for after school homework clubs.
Notes to editors
About EMCOR Facilities Services Ltd
EMCOR Facilities Services is one of the UK market leaders in the provision of Total Facilities
Management including: strategic consultancy; facilities services; mechanical and electrical
operation and maintenance, and; networks, voice & data, security and fire services to both the
private and public sectors.
NATS
- NATS handled 2.3 million flights in 2005, covering the UK and eastern North Atlantic and carried more than 220 million passengers safely through some of the busiest and most complex airspace in the world.
- NATS provides 'en route' air traffic control or air traffic management from the London Area Control Centre at Swanwick, Hampshire, London Terminal Control Centre at West Drayton, Middlesex, Scottish Area Control Centre and Oceanic Area Control Centre at Prestwick, Ayrshire and the Manchester Area Control Centre located at Manchester Airport.
- NATS also provides the air traffic service at 15 of the nation's major airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and overseas at Gibraltar Airport.
- NATS operates through a Private Public Partnership (PPP) and is owned by the UK Government (49%); the Airline Group (42%); BAA (4%) and the NATS Employee Sharetrust (5%)
- NATS is committed to investing more than £1billion in the UK's air traffic system.
