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.
“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.”
Can’t tell you how humbled and delighted I am to be awarded an Honorary Fellowship of @RoyalScotGeoSoc It truly was a glorious evening and @DougAllanCamera speech was mind-blowing. https://t.co/JuNvbLAkv3
— Dougie Vipond (@DougieVipond) December 22, 2022
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.
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.
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