Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Deacon Blue drummer Dougie Vipond ‘humbled and delighted’ to receive prestigious RSGS award in Perth

left to right, David Connor, Professor Iain Stewart and Dougie Vipond. Image: RSGS
left to right, David Connor, Professor Iain Stewart and Dougie Vipond. Image: RSGS

Deacon Blue drummer Dougie Vipond is “humbled and delighted” to have been awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the Perth-based Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS).

The musician, who is also well known for presenting series such as BBC Scotland’s The Adventure Show and the rural affairs series, Landward, enjoyed a “glorious evening” at Perth Concert Hall.

Presenting the Honorary Fellowship to Dougie, RSGS chief executive Mike Robinson said: “During his time on Landward, Dougie has helped increase the public understanding of rural problems and shared stories of life in the country, expertly capturing the wonders and wildlife of the Scottish landscape.

RSGS CEO Mike Robinson

“Dougie has also made invaluable contributions towards promoting the importance of Scotland’s outdoors and the spirit of adventure, throwing himself, almost literally, into every sport imaginable and shining a spotlight on so many of Scotland’s world class outdoor events and opportunities.”

Accepting the award, Dougie replied: “I am utterly overwhelmed and grateful to be awarded RSGS Fellowship, knowing all of the incredibly famous and important figures throughout history that have also received this award.”

Dougie Vipond was presented with the award before award-winning Fife-born wildlife cameraman Doug Allan spoke to an audience of over 500 people, as previewed in a feature interview by The Courier.

He reflected on successes and setbacks from 40 years of natural history film-making.

He shared some truly incredible stories and images from documentaries such as Planet Earth and Ocean Giants.

Presentation of several awards

Wednesday night’s talk also saw some other familiar faces as RSGS took the opportunity to award RSGS Honorary Fellowship to David Connor, and the prestigious Scottish Geographical Medal to former RSGS president Professor Iain Stewart.

Doug Allan speaking at Perth Concert Hall. Image: RSGS

David Connor was regional director of Warm Zones, set up to trial a new not-for-profit area-based partnership approach to delivering energy efficiency measures and address fuel poverty.

The scheme he has managed has resulted in 370,000 homes having physical energy efficiency measures fitted since 2001, and is regarded as probably being the UK’s leading fuel poverty programme of the past decade.

‘Nobel Prize’ of geography to ‘rock’ star

The prestigious RSGS Scottish Geographical Medal was awarded to Professor Iain Stewart MBE, for his work as RSGS president over the last 10 years.

From 2000 to 2015 Iain was a familiar face on our TV’s with his popular Earth- Power of the Planet series, Planet Oil, Men of Rock, How to Grow A Planet, and Rise of the Continents.

Professor Iain Stewart with his Scottish Geographical Medal. Image: RSGS

He is now currently El Hassan Research chairperson for sustainability at the Royal Scientific Society in Jordan, Professor of Geoscience Communication at the University of Plymouth and UNESCO Chair in Geoscience and Society.

Mike Robinson said: “Iain’s dedication to RSGS as our 19th president, and his contributions during a critical period of change and growth for the society have been invaluable.

“He has done everything that we have asked of him and more, is a great friend to us all and a real ambassador for geography more generally.

“I cannot thank him enough for all of his help and friendship as RSGS president over the last decade.

“It is with great honour that we award him with the Scottish Geographical Medal, the highest accolade that we offer – a sort of Scottish “Nobel Prize” for geography.”

‘Inspiration’ of RSGS

Iain commented: “RSGS has long played a brilliant role in inspiring people about the wonders of our planet, and celebrating the exploits of those that have boldly gone forth to explore it.

“It inspired me back when I was a geography student at university and it continued to do so over the 10 years that I spent as its president.

“Never has the need for inspiration been more essential, and I know that the RSGS will continue to lead the way in showing how a deep appreciation of the natural world is vital for the future wellbeing of humanity.”

Conversation