This week's Councillor Column comes from Helensburgh Central councillor Aileen Morton...

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As a parent, I was ever so relieved when the schools went back after the summer holidays this year.

I hadn’t managed to take as much time off to spend with my kids as I had hoped over the summer so reached the end of the holidays feeling slightly frazzle. Hopefully, I’m not the only parent who breathed a tiny sigh of relief as routine was resumed – although it was very frustrating to have the sun shine just as the schools re-opened!

I’m not sure my kids will have noticed how busy I was though, as they too managed to fit plenty in.

The younger one stayed local with activities such as Fitdance and football camps, while the older one spent a week on Arran volunteering with the National Trust for Scotland, which included activities like dragging rocks up a hill to break at the top for path maintenance! She did enjoy it, despite the hard work involved.

As the schools go back it’s a good time to celebrate the efforts of all our young people.

On September 6 I attended the GIVE (Get Inspired through Volunteering and Engagement) celebration event, which marks the voluntary work of local young people over the summer – who collectively gave 522 hours for the benefit of the town.

Following the success of the summer programme a year round version is now being launched which will provide at least one volunteering opportunity a month in which young people can gain hours towards their Saltire award and also points which they can exchange for free rewards.

The GIVE event was followed by Hermitage Academy’s Celebration of Achievement on Thursday evening where pupils were congratulated on their contributions to the community, school life, sports and the arts as well as academic achievement.

Finally, the Winter Festival this year takes place on the last weekend in November – so if anyone (whether young or not!) would like to volunteer for a couple of hours or couple of days then any help would be much appreciated.

The festival is continuing to grow and with street theatre and a stage in Colquhoun Square added to the existing favourites like the skating rink and Santa’s grotto it should be a great weekend.