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.

91-year-old honoured after lifetime of local politics

Bob Ritchie an SNP stalwart
Bob Ritchie an SNP stalwart

A pensioner who has spent his life campaigning in Buchan has been recognised for his efforts by the SNP.

Bob Ritchie, from Peterhead, was the founding member of the Fraserburgh branch of the party and has latterly become the honorary president of its Peterhead counterpart.

Now the 91-year-old with a lifetime membership.

Mr Ritchie has been campaigning across the north-east since the 1960s for the nationalists and, at one time, narrowly missed out on standing for a seat – by winning a coin toss.

He instead acted as the party’s first ever election agent in 1964.

Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast, said Mr Ritchie had been a “stalwart” and “inspiration” to activists locally for years.

“It is fitting that his long service is recognised,” he added.

“Bob holds a place in history as the first-ever SNP election agent in this area when the party decided to contest the old East Aberdeenshire seat at the 1964 election.”

At that election, the SNP got just 6% of the vote.

Last year, Eilidh Whiteford MP won the seat with a record 60%.

Mr Stevenson said people like Mr Ritchie had contributed to the result.

He said: “It is thanks to the hard work and dedication of people like Bob in those early days that the party was able to put down such solid foundations to build on locally.”