LORD Provost Bob Winter helped Drum up support in launching our quest to find the best community heroes in the West.

He netted backing from the Drumchapel Table Tennis Club to spread the word about the Glasgow Community Champion Awards.

HOW TO ENTER WE'RE looking to find community heroes living or working around Yoker, Scotstoun, Knightswood, Temple, Anniesland, Blairdardie and Drumchapel. We need you to nominate your heroes. You can put yourself or your own group forward. The deadline for nominations is Thursday, November 6. You can download an entry form at www.eveningtimes.co.uk or on our community sites at anniesland.eveningtimes.co.uk, drumchapel.eveningtimes.co.uk, knightswood.eveningtimes.co.uk, yoker.eveningtimes.co.uk, whiteinch.eveningtimes.co.uk Alternatively, e-mail gayle.cooper@glasgow.newsquest.co.uk or call her on 0141 302 7319. To request a form by post write to Glasgow Community Champion Awards, Evening Times, 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow G2 3QB

Young players showed their table techniques in the Drumry Road club, which is one example of the brilliant initiatives to be found across the city.

The Glasgow Community Champion Awards launches today in the West areas. We are looking for nominations of individuals, groups, charities and companies making a real difference to the lives of people in Yoker, Scotstoun, Knightswood, Temple, Anniesland, Blairdardie and Drumchapel.

The campaign is a partnership between Glasgow City Council, Strathclyde Police, Strathclyde Fire & Rescue, Glasgow Community Planning Partnership and the Evening Times to turn the spotlight on campaigners fighting to help others.

Mr Winter said: "It is my ambition to enthuse everyone with the idea of civic pride and I am supporting projects that will help achieve this.

"The awards are an excellent way of making it known what tremendous people we have in Glasgow, and giving recognition to the qualities we all admire.

"Projects like the Drumchapel Table Tennis Club are so important because they play a part in community life and in developing young people, not just in table tennis but in their whole personality."

Formed in 1989, the club is open five nights a week and has about 250 regular players.

The training and management committee is staffed entirely by volunteers, with funding for kit and operating costs coming from local equipment firm Skyform, Glasgow City Council and Drumchapel LIFE healthy living centre.

Head coach and founding member Terry McLernon said: "There is not a person in Drumchapel who does not know the club - everybody has played at one time.

"It is a good community-based thing and is a great combination of playing a sport and getting kids off the streets."

The club has recently expanded into schools in Scotstoun, Knightswood and Yoker in preparation for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Corinna Whitaker travelled from her home in Perth to Drumchapel twice a week to compete with the club.

The 18-year-old recently moved to Anniesland to continue playing and study sports coaching and development at Langside College.

She said: "I like the whole atmosphere when you are playing and watching people who are better than you. Going abroad is great because I have travelled to India, Sweden and Belgium."

The winners of the Glasgow Community Champion Awards from the East and West areas will be named in two high profile ceremonies - the first of 10 to take place across Glasgow.

The first will be on November 17 at the £12million Bridge arts and leisure complex in Easterhouse.

There is still time to nominate groups or individuals in this area.

Send your choice to us by Wednesday, October 15.

The second ceremony will be at Drumchapel Community Centre on December 2. If you know of a group or individual doing outstanding work here, let us know by completing an entry form today.

There will be winners in six different categories in each area. All 60 winners will be invited to a gala final at the City Chambers next September, where we will crown the overall Community Champions.

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THE COMMUNITY CHAMPION CATEGORIES

INDIVIDUAL AWARD
We want to hear inspirational stories of people who give up their free time to make a significant contribution to other people's lives or to a local community. This could be someone running a sports club, campaigning for better services, tackling health issues or committed to cleaning up their area.

YOUNG COMMUNITY CHAMPIONS
It's never too early to become a Community Champion. We're looking to find people aged 17-years-old and younger who have shown inspirational behaviour, perhaps through incredible fund-raising or acts of bravery. Nominations for young groups and individuals are welcome, and can include voluntary youth groups, uniformed organisations, community groups and schools.

PUBLIC SERVICES TEAM AWARD
A remarkable public service team that has made an outstanding contribution to help those they serve. This team working in any public sector will have gone that extra mile to provide help and support, making a real difference to the lives of others.

PUBLIC SERVICES INDIVIDUAL AWARD
This award will be presented to individuals working for a public service within a community who have gone beyond the call of duty. It could be a teacher, social worker, housing officer, doctor, nurse or emergency services officer.

TEAM AWARD
The team award recognises the life-enhancing work of community teams, organisations, charities or a group of volunteers. For example, this category is for any group involved in fundraising, organising community events or making the community a better place to live.

NEIGHBOUR AWARD
Everybody needs good neighbours, but perhaps you know a community star who regularly goes out of their way to help others? We're looking to recognise those unsung heroes who make a big contribution to local communities with no expectation of personal gain.

BVT SURFACE FLEET: The reward is seeing the smiles on people's faces THEY say charity begins at home but for the staff of BVT Surface Fleet, it's as routine as clocking in. The workers at the shipbuilding yards (formerly BAE Systems) at Scotstoun and Govan have raised almost £1.2million. What started as a series of small-scale fun ways to help good causes over 20 years ago has blossomed into a commitment to generate funds and invest time, energy and knowledge in helping local projects. Recent initiatives include restoring three barges used by a charity, carrying out maintenance at the Erskine home for ex-service people and building a play ship HMS Friendship' for Victoria Park playground. The company also sprung into action to help revamp the house and garden of a terminally-ill cancer patient. It's all driven by Willie McLachlan, who has recently been named the firm's Charity Co-ordinator.He organises the company's Charity Challenge, which last year raised £187,000. Willie, 54, a health and safety trainer from Cumbernauld who has worked on the Clyde for 33 years, said: "You count your blessings that you're able to help other people. "The reward? Seeing the smiles on the people's faces and the cards and letters that come in, thanking us." The charity committee donates money raised by dances, raffles and race nights to causes like St Margaret's Hospice at Clydebank and Ronald McDonald House at Yorkhill. Over 400 tickets have already been sold for the company's charity ball taking place at the Marriott Hotel on October 24. "Any company could do this," adds Willie, "but only if they have someone to drive it. "If anybody wanted to contact me I'd be more than willing to help out if it means they're going to benefit people who are not as fortunate as ourselves."	TEMPLE SHAFTON YOUTH PROJECT: Blaze damage brought out the true community spirit A DEVASTATING fire attack could have spelled disaster for Temple Shafton Youth Project. Instead the blaze proved how much the community values the centre. Within hours of the fire on the eve of Bonfire Night last year, offers of help to repair the damage to The Hut in Netherton Road were pouring in from parents, construction workers and tradesmen. Project manager Paul Smith said: "We had a young man, a qualified electrician, who did the labour free of charge, a joiner was in, a painter was in, and we'd a granny walk in with a silver tray of sandwiches. "That type of thing used to happen in the 1960s - you don't expect it nowadays." The project began 21 years ago to provide a much-needed youth centre. A purpose-built venue was built in 1989 and its programme has grown over the years. It's now used every week by around 150 people aged from five to 25. Activities include arts and crafts, sports, IT training, homework classes and advice sessions. Some youngsters are raising money for a youth exchange to Australia next year, others take part in the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, while 15-year-old Jamie Donald will take over the role of chairman next month. The project receives around 60% of its £150,000 annual costs from Glasgow City Council, and has two full-time, four part-time staff, and six Project Scotland volunteers. Young people regularly tidy up the area in the north-west of the city as part of the Clean Glasgow campaign. "Community spirit is different to when we were young," says Paul. "It only exists where people work for it and strive for it now."	KINGSWAY COURT HEALTH AND WELLBEING CENTRE: Sense of pride in the area has replaced 'no-go' areas THIS hub is a thriving example of the power of neighbourhood action. It's where residents gathered for warming cups of tea during candlelit protests against dawn raids on asylum seekers in 2006. Residents turned out in their hundreds for dawn patrols from 5.30am every morning, scouting for Home Office vans. One elderly man may not be alive today if members of the pensioners' club hadn't intervened when his absence was noted. They alerted police who found him lying behind his door having suffered a stroke. And it's a vital resource offering a creche, English language courses, youth and women's groups, citizens' advice, stress services, seven-a-side football matches, film production workshops, as well as being a relaxed drop-in centre. All this from a small reclaimed space at the foot of one of the neighbourhood's six high-rise blocks. Community health and development co-ordinator Martin Coyle said: "When I arrived there were unsavoury groups using the space. "These were no-go areas for a number of years. But the bad guys' have moved on and that's a good indicator of there being a sense of pride in the area. "A lot of that is down to the asylum seekers who have worked to integrate themselves into this community." The centre was founded by the Kingsway Tenants' Association in 2000 using Social Inclusion Partnership funds. It coincided with the arrival of asylum seekers and provided clothing, food parcels and advice to new residents. The centre employs five staff and receives around £140,000 a year from the Fairer Scotland Fund. It organises the annual Kingslink Carnival, which attracts over 2000 people and helps promote the award-winning Knightswood Youth Theatre group made up of locals, asylum seekers and refugees. Martin said: "I get reluctant to say it's the centre - it's the people in the area who make the changes. The centre gives people confidence, it gives them the ideas, it gives them the facilities and the resources to take action and do what needs to be done to improve their community."