A few hours left to vote for community heroes nominated in search for unsung champions of the Highlands

Three community heroes from the Highlands have been shortlisted as part of bus operator Stagecoach Highland's 40th Anniversary celebrations.

Shelley Gill, from Inverness, of Acts of Kindness Inverness and Highlands, Martin MacDougall, from Inverness, who gave away more than 600 colouring packs to children during the lockdown and John Walmsley, who goes above and beyond for Dingwall Men’s Shed.

Voting closes today on Twitter. Users don't need an account to log in and vote.

A spokeswoman for Stagecoach Highland said it was marking four successful decades of the company, the country’s biggest bus and coach operator, by appealing to heroes in the communities it serves with its bus, coach and tram services to be part of the anniversary celebrations.

Stagecoach asked its customers and its communities to nominate unsung heroes. From these nominations, three Stagecoach Highland Community Heroes were selected.

The winner in each area will receive high street shopping vouchers and will be put forward to the final to become the Stagecoach National Community Hero.

David Beaton, managing director for Stagecoach Highlands said: "We had a fantastic response to our search for community heroes in the Highlands as part of our 40th Anniversary celebrations. It was really difficult to narrow the nominations down to three for the local final but Shelley, Martin and John have all shown great community spirit throughout the pandemic.

"Anyone can cast a vote for their winner on our Twitter page @StagecochHLand."

To vote click here.

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.