Honorary Life Membership list (via History section on this website)
Honorary Life Membership is bestowed on deserving individuals via our Annual General Meeting.
David Ovens chaired the AGM for the third time on Saturday 9 November in an online gathering with over 50 indivduals on the call.
Following that meeting, this year we are delighted to confirm the Honorary Life Membership status is now afforded to Margaret Brown, Charlie Forbes and Ricky Taylor.
Below are the HLM citations read out by David at the AGM ahead of the voting process.
Many congratulations to Margaret, Charlie and Ricky and thank you for your outstanding service to our sport over many years.
Margaret Brown (on left) at our 4J Annual Awards a couple of years ago (photo by Bobby Gavin)
Margaret Brown
Margaret has been involved with Track and Field athletics for five decades.
She was a sprinter with Maryhill Ladies AC subsequently Glasgow AC/City of Glasgow AC where she held the positions of Club Captain and Club President and was awarded HLM.
Margaret was awarded scottishathletics Official of the Year in 2018 and the Raymond Hutcheson Trophy for Services to Officiating in 2023.
Margaret became a qualified Technical Official specialising in Field events, a role she continues today as a National Technical Official having officiated at World Indoor Championships, Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, World Championships, Athletics World Cups, and European Indoor Championships.
Margaret was Convenor of the scottishathletics Officials Commission for eight years (2017-2023) where she drove forward an agenda for developing and improving the experience for Technical Officials. She also represented the Commission on the scottishathletics Board during her time as Convenor.
Margaret represented scottishathletics at UK Athletics meetings where, as part of a small team she ensured the development pathway for officials across the UK expanded and met the challenges of the sport in addition to ensuring Scottish officials were allocated into major international meetings.
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Photo via James Mackenzie/Inverness Courier
Charlie Forbes
Charlie Forbes arrived at Inverness Harriers as a parent helper in the mid-1980s and is still going strong, having made huge contributions at club, district, national and international levels.
He began as a coach with the club’s most junior athletes, but soon progressed to look after his own endurance group with added sprinters from time to time and has coached at the club continuously from the start. Over the decades he has coached at a wide range of levels, including providing first steps for GB internationals Mhairi Maclennan and Jamie Bowie.
One of his main interests is in disability sport coaching many disability athletes in the Highlands, as well as making contributions further afield.
Charlie is currently President of Inverness Harriers and playing a major role in the campaign for the refurbishment of the Queens Park track.
One of the earliest areas in which he showed an interest was team management and he soon progressed to managing national teams including the inaugural Commonwealth Youth Games in Edinburgh in 2000.
His interests have also extended to officiating, where his duties have frequently included senior positions on the track. He officiated at the 2005 European Cross Country Championships, the 2008 World Cross Country Championships, and was a Technical Official at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
He is a long-standing Honorary Life Member of Inverness Harriers.
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Ricky Taylor (standing, second from left) with Officials at Birmingham 2022
Ricky Taylor
Ricky has been involved in athletics in one way or another for the last 60 years – as an athlete, coach, technical official, Team Manager, Track & Field selection committee, Field Peer Group, Ayr Seaforth Athletic Club as President, Vice president and Club Statistician.
Ricky ran for Great Britain in two junior internationals and represented Scotland in the 1970 Commonwealth Games at 400m Hurdles and ran the anchor leg in the 4X400 final when the Scottish Team set a new national record.
He has been one of the key players at Ayr Seaforth Athletic Club through his involvement as an athlete, president, vice president, coach and technical official. Ricky joined Seaforth in 1962 as a 12-year-old and went on to win a host of Scottish titles.
In 1992 he became a sprints coach and team manager and then progressed to official qualifications at Level 2. After 30 years, Ricky retired from coaching in 2022.
In November 2022 Ayr Seaforth said goodbye to Dam Park Stadium to move to the Riverside Sports Arena and Ricky has been actively involved helping the new facility staff by sharing his athletics knowledge and information.
Ricky is a stalwart scottishathletics Field Official and gives up his time to support countless events at various levels.
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Tags:
Charlie Forbes, Honorary Life Membership, Margaret Brown, Ricky Taylor
