North-east agricultural journalist Eddie Gillanders has been recognised for his lifetime dedication to the Aberdeen-Angus breed.
Mr Gillanders was presented with the breed society’s Hugh Watson Memorial Award at the organisation’s annual meeting in Stirling.
The award, which is named after one of the breed’s founders, Hugh Watson, of Keillor in Angus, has only ever been presented to two other people.
The previous recipients are the late Sir John Moores, of the Littlewoods pools and retail family who bred Aberdeen-Angus for 60 years in Lancashire, and veteran breeder, 85-year-old Willie McLaren, of the renowned Netherton herd at Blackford, Auchterarder.
Mr Gillanders, 72, has been involved with the breed since the age of 15 when he joined the breed society to work as a junior clerk in the herd book department.
Three years later he was promoted to the role of committee clerk and given the responsibility of preparing the agendas and minutes for the meetings of council and committees.
In 1964 Mr Gillanders left the society to pursue a career in journalism as assistant to the agricultural editor at the Press and Journal, before returning to the society two years later as press officer and later assistant secretary.
The society’s office moved from Aberdeen to Perth in 1970 and a year later Mr Gillanders returned to the north, first working as marketing manager of farmers’ co-op North Eastern Farmer and then back to the Press and Journal as agricultural editor for 11 years.
In 1984 Mr Gillanders started his owned farming magazine – Agri-Business Scotland – which he sold five years later to the Peebles Publishing Group in Glasgow after joining Aberdeen and Northern Marts where he worked until retiring in 2003 at the age of 60.
The following year he got back into publishing and launched bi-monthly farming magazine, Farm North East, which he continues to edit and publish.
Mr Gillander’s departure from employment with the Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society in 1971 did not mark the end of his involvement with the breed and he continued to edit the Aberdeen-Angus review on a freelance basis until 2010.
In 1972 he instigated the formation of the North East Aberdeen-Angus Club, which runs the Black Beauty Bonanza show, where he was secretary until 2013 and elected as club president on his retirement.
Presenting Mr Gillanders with his award, Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society president David Evans said: “Eddie’s involvement with the society spans almost six decades, during which time he has witnessed the dramatic swings in fortunes of the breed.
“Throughout that time the breed has remained close to his heart and he continues to be a great ambassador, respected not only by members but also the wider agricultural community throughout the UK.
“It has been an honour to know Eddie ever since I became involved with the breed more than 20 years ago. He is truly a worthy recipient of the Hugh Watson memorial award.”