Diane Wood - MBE

We would like to congratulate the Chair of our Board, Mrs Diane Wood, on receipt of her MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours 2024. Diane was awarded her MBE “For voluntary and charitable services in Scotland”, which includes the work she does with us.

Diane has been a volunteer with us since 2000 when she began visits with her dog, Ellis, as one of our Therapet® volunteers providing visits to places including care homes, hospitals, hospices, schools, colleges, and universities to those in need of support from a loving animal. She was a volunteer Area Representative in Inverness and the Highlands at that time, dedicated to recruiting and coordinating volunteers and promoting the work of the Trust in that area. She moved to Aberdeenshire in 2006 where she joined the team there as the Area Representative for Aberdeenshire North. She continues in this position with her current Therapets Naso and Nola, where her visits include HMP Grampian, Aberdeen Airport and Aberdeen Heliports. In 2019, she was instrumental in the development and implementation of the ‘Canine Crew’ at Aberdeen Airport where a team of volunteers and Therapets are on hand to support nervous fliers. Aberdeen Airport won the National Geographic’s Traveller Award for Innovation for this internationally acknowledged “industry leading” joint initiative. In 2024, she also led the implementation of the Helipets visits to Aberdeen Heliports. Diane has a particular interest in working with dog-phobic children and is passionate about educating children about dogs and how to react to them. She did countless visits with her previous dog, Therapet Breagh, who was also one of the stars of our ‘Children and Dogs’ educational film. She has been on the Board of CCST since 2018 and was appointed Chair in 2022. During nearly 24 years of volunteering with us, she has made significant, and positive, differences to the lives of so many people including children in hospitals and schools, students, people in care and nursing homes and indeed to the team of Therapet Volunteers that she manages so skilfully and sensitively.

Diane has also been involved with dog rescue and rehoming for over 25 years and is passionate about Golden Retrievers. Other volunteering roles include being a Committee member for Breast Cancer Now and participating in wildlife surveys focusing on Orcas around the north coast of Scotland and Shetland. When not working full time or volunteering, Diane enjoys road cycling and time with her family. When Diane informed us of this award, she said she was “humbled and delighted”  and that she  “knew nothing about it so getting the notification was a big surprise”.  We are very pleased to hear that she has been awarded such a fitting tribute to her tireless efforts across the volunteer sector in Scotland!

We pass on our heartfelt congratulations to Diane on her Award.

CEO. Ms Mel Hughes