A Renfrewshire woman who has dedicated her life to serving the community has been named one of Scotland’s women of the year.
Cassie Forbes, who heads up Roar – Connections for Life, was awarded the Woman of the Year gong in the community work category at a special ceremony on Thursday night.
The former police officer was recognised for her role in the charity, which works to bolster the physical and mental well-being of more than 900 older people across Renfrewshire.
“I’m in complete shock,” she told the Paisley Daily Express.
“I can’t believe it, I really didn’t expect to win. It was fantastic to be a finalist and I was up against some stiff competition, so I’m absolutely overjoyed.
“To win this for Roar is a real honour. This is an award for everyone at Roar as it’s a team effort and everyone involved works so hard.”
Cassie was delighted to accept the award in front of her colleagues Kellie Sterling and Mairi Milne, who joined her at the glitzy awards ceremony in Glasgow’s Marriott Hotel.
She added: “For me, to be a finalist is already to be a winner and we were going to celebrate whatever happened, so to walk away with the prize was the icing on the cake.”
The Scottish Women’s Awards recognise and celebrate female talent in fields such as business, sport, technology, management and charity.
Thursday’s event provided a platform to commend women entrepreneurs, professionals, businesses, civil servants and sports stars on their success and contribution to society.
For Cassie, who joined the police when females were in the minority and few rose through the ranks to senior positions, the event was an incredible celebration of women who are setting a great example for the next generation of young girls.
“We were surrounded by such trailblazers,” Cassie said.
“Women’s career options have gone through the stratosphere in the past 20 years and it’s important that continues.
“When I joined the police there weren’t many women, but now we make up a much bigger percentage and many more of the managers are female as well.
“In the third sector, particularly in social care, it’s much more female lead, so it’s been fantastic to celebrate everyone in these roles.”
Cassie became the CEO of Roar at the start of 2021 – taking over from Nicola Hanssen who had grown the organisation over the previous ten years.
She had previously been a community inspector in Renfrewshire when she joined the board of Roar as a police contact.
She has since helped steer the organisation and its members through the pandemic and has overseen a monumental year for the charity.
She said: “I’m really proud of everything we have achieved in the past year.
“Following the pandemic, we lost 70 per cent of our staff and in the past year we have rebuilt the team, moved to Station 7 and started two new projects, an intergenerational initiative to tackle loneliness and the befriending service, so it has been a whirlwind of a year.”
Roar – Connections for Life has a health and well-being programme, exercise classes, foot care clinics, prevention service and a clinical team to carry out mobility assessments at home.
For more information, visit roarforlife.org
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