The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 sounded the death-knell of Cowdenbeath Town Council, which was formally dissolved in 1975. District and Regional Councils were then introduced, but there was still a desire to legislate for some additional localised representation and hence Community Councils were established.

Among the initiatives introduced by the inaugural Cowdenbeath Community Council in 1977, we believe was a Cowdenbeath Civic Week sub-committee.

The William M Young Trophy has been awarded since 1979 to those who have made a significant contribution in the local community and established a precedent for the Citizen of the Year to be a key part of the Gala and Civic Week celebrations.

In 2003, the Community Council bestowed its highest honour as Honorary Citizen to Mr Robert Selkirk (‘young Bob’), of Union Street, for dedicated service over a lifetime to his hometown of Cowdenbeath. With a career in mining and at the Cowdenbeath NCB Workshops, he was elected as a Communist councillor for the old Moss-side Ward in the town in 1974 and was a founding member of the town’s Community Council in 1977. Throughout many years Bob worked to improve the services, facilities and conditions in Cowdenbeath for all its people. He died in 2011 but his legacy lives on in his children, grandchildren and great grand children, many of whom still live in the area.

Bob is the only person to have received this distinction of Honorary Citizen.

Here are some of those other proud Citizens of the Year from photos which have been donated to us.

The list of Cowdenbeath Citizens of the Year are:

1979 – Mrs S Clark

1980 – Mrs M Mathie

1981 – Mrs M Pitcairn

1982 – Mr G McNab

1983 – Mr J Hoggan

1984 – Mr G Kyle

1985 – Mrs H Thomson

1986 – Mrs M Campbell

1987 – T Purdy

1988 – S Blamey

1989 – Mr P Millar

1990 – Mr W Sharp

1991 – Mr A Morrison

1992 – Mrs L Martin

1993 – Mrs M Jones

1994 – Mr D Kinloch

1995 – Mr J A McGhee

1996 – Ina Martin

1997 – Mrs C Kyle

1998 – Mr J Boyle

1999 – Mrs E McLeod

2000 – Mr D Stevenson

2001 – Mrs H Heggie

2002 – Mrs A Weatherston

2003 – Mrs A Campbell

2004 – Honorary Citizen – Mr R Selkirk

2004 – (Joint Winners) – Mrs M Plunkett & Mrs B Whitelaw

2005 – Mr A Lindsay

2006 – Mrs M Maxwell

2007 – Mr A Haddow

2008 – Mrs R Adams

2009 – Mr G Bird

2010 – Mr S Juner

2011 – Mrs M Kennedy

2012 – A Howie, E Neilson & M Scott

2013 – Capt J Robertson

2014 – Mr J Scally

2015 – C Rigby

2016 – J Easton

2017 – W Aitchison

The Cowdenbeath Citizen of the Year award was ended in 2018 by the Community Council.