THE founder of a Dalmuir community club, which has been helping members combat social isolation and coordinating the delivery of meals to the vulnerable, was the most popular Lockdown Heroes nomination this week.

Jim McLaren, who runs Golden Friendships, has been working with volunteers to deliver thousands of lunches and provide activity sets and online entertainment.

The Post recently launched its Lockdown Heroes campaign calling on the public to put forward the names of people in Clydebank who deserved recognition for going above and beyond to help the community cope through the challenges of the coronavirus lockdown.

Many of the first nominations were for Jim. He was put forward by Laura Buckley, who said: “Jim, his staff and volunteers have went above and beyond during lockdown to feed the school kids and vulnerable in our community.

“Lunches have been getting delivered to the people who can’t get out the house.

“Jim and his staff have been an asset to the community not only during lockdown but also throughout the whole year giving our elderly, lonely and vulnerable a place to go and enjoy themselves from Monday to Friday with different activities which I know many of these people are missing hugely.”

Teresa O’Donnell also thanked the Golden Friendships volunteers. She added: “I know Jim gets nominated for a lot as he does an outstanding job for the community, but he wouldn’t be able to do it without all his helpers.

“They truly are an inspirational charity who go above and beyond for Clydebank and I’m sure a lot of people benefit from their dedication.”

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Dawn MacAulay, of Key Community Supports, was nominated by colleague Jenny Deighan. The pair are based at the Faifley/Clydebank service and provide support to adults and children with learning disabilities and complex needs.

Jenny said: “The lockdown has proven to be a very anxious time for both staff and the service users that we support.

“Dawn has reacted to this by constantly thinking outside the box as to how she can improve this experience for her colleagues and the service users.

“She has hosted a weekly Lockdown Bingo and Karaoke session in the car park of one of our services.

“She has made a massive difference to these people, their support teams and lots of people across Key. A lot of this she is doing on her spare time along with working full time.

“She has also organised a 60th lockdown birthday party for two for a gentleman she supports and made sure he had his favourite cake and beer for him on the day.

“This was on the same weekend that Dawn was due to have her own 30th birthday party that she sadly had to cancel due to the lockdown.

“She is a selfless and caring individual and constantly puts others first. She tries hard to be as positive as she can be throughout and her enthusiasm is infectious. For this reason she deserves to be recognised for all her efforts.”

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School-girl Mollie-Rose Shields, who hand-delivered around 300 Easter eggs to neighbours in April, was nominated by Siobhan Gillespie.

The Post previously reported that Mollie-Rose, who has Asperger’s syndrome, had been affected heavily by the lack of routine since her school closed.

But the 10-year-old took great joy in making others smile by delivering the chocolate treats to locals in Drumry who shared an image of a rainbow in their window.

Siobhan said: “That little girl has went out her way to cheer up loads of people from all around Clydebank by surprising them with Easter eggs on their door step. She has single handedly made a very tough time better, and has restored my faith in humankind.”

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Maureen Cummings and husband Gordon were nominated by Rachel Malcolm for establishing Old Kilpatrick Food Parcels in their spare time.

The couple has made use of their time on furlough by starting a food bank, which locals can access on Wednesday afternoons. Rachel also highlighted the staff at the village’s Scotmid for their commitment in serving locals and for supporting the Cummings’ new food bank.

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That’s all we have room for in this week’s issue – but more will follow.

If you know of someone in Clydebank who has gone above and beyond to help you, or the community, during the coronavirus lockdown, we want to know about them.

Tell us, in no more than a couple of sentences, who you think deserves a mention in our Lockdown Heroes roll of honour and why.

Email your nominations – including a picture – to editorial@clydebankpost.co.uk or message our Facebook page.