22 October 2026
Derek Ritchie Named High Street Hero 2026
The same Scotland Loves Local Awards which saw Inverurie crowned Scotland’s Town of the Year 2026 brought a second major recognition back to the town.
We Are Inverurie BID Manager Derek Ritchie has been named a High Street Hero for North East Scotland – recognising his contribution to Inverurie’s businesses, town centre, major events and wider community.
The award celebrates the people and organisations who go above and beyond to strengthen high streets and local economies through dedication, initiative and leadership.
For Derek, the recognition comes after years spent working across the different parts of Inverurie which together make the town work. His day-to-day responsibility is clear: We Are Inverurie BID exists to promote, support and champion Inverurie’s business community.
In practice, delivering that remit can take many forms. It can mean helping promote an individual business, supporting a new opening or raising the profile of Inverurie as a destination. It can mean representing traders on issues affecting them.
It can also mean helping secure funding, developing a project, working with community partners or supporting an event which will bring thousands of potential customers into the town.
And, sometimes, it means bringing the right people around a table and finding a way of turning an idea into something tangible.
A voice for Inverurie’s businesses
At the centre of Derek’s BID role is advocacy. Inverurie has a remarkably resilient commercial landscape, with low vacancy, strong footfall and a mixture of long-established independents, newer enterprises, professional businesses and national retailers.
Protecting and strengthening that environment requires more than promotion. It also means speaking up when decisions place additional pressure on businesses.
That became particularly visible in 2026 when Derek publicly challenged the effect of free-parking removal and rising business rates on Inverurie traders, arguing that the town should not be disadvantaged simply because of the strength of its commercial performance. It was characteristic of the role the BID has developed within the town: providing a collective business voice and ensuring the realities facing local traders are heard.
But advocacy is only one part of the work. The BID also supports businesses through marketing, training, digital development, events, investment and wider initiatives designed to create a better trading environment.
Underlying all of it is the same principle: Inverurie’s businesses are what make the town distinctive, and they should be actively championed.
Connecting business and community
Derek’s involvement in Inverurie also extends beyond his role with the BID. He is a trustee of both Inverurie Events and Evolving Inverurie, reflecting the increasingly close relationship between the town’s commercial community and its wider community organisations.
The three organisations have different remits. We Are Inverurie BID represents and supports its business community. Inverurie Events delivers some of the town’s largest events. Evolving Inverurie works across community and place-based projects.
But their ambitions regularly intersect.
A successful major event creates footfall for businesses. A better public space benefits residents, traders and visitors. Community projects strengthen the identity of the town. Businesses flourishing can help unlock wider activity.
Derek’s involvement across these organisations helps connect those conversations and identify opportunities to work collaboratively. It is not about one organisation taking ownership of everything happening in Inverurie. Much of the town’s progress has come from recognising where different organisations can contribute different things.
Helping major events grow
That partnership approach is particularly visible in Inverurie’s annual events programme. Through the relationship between We Are Inverurie BID and Inverurie Events, the town now has a calendar capable of attracting thousands of visitors.
The Christmas Festival has expanded to include the lights switch-on and fireworks, Cairngorm Reindeer Parade, Santa Runs, Breakfast with Santa and Christmas Tractor Run. Taste of Garioch has helped put Inverurie at the centre of a wider celebration of North East food and drink. And, the Garioch Pipe Band Championships has rapidly developed into another major attraction, bringing competitors and spectators into the town before massed bands parade through Inverurie.
For Derek, supporting events is directly linked to the BID’s business remit. More visitors mean greater exposure for Inverurie. Greater exposure creates more opportunities for businesses. And, successful events reinforce the town’s position as a destination rather than somewhere people simply pass through.
Projects that happen behind the scenes
Not everything connected with Inverurie;s growth is as visible as a major event.
A significant amount of the work takes place behind the scenes: meetings, funding applications, discussions with businesses, liaison with partners and taking projects through the less glamorous stages required before they can become reality.
One current example is Inverurie’s much-needed Town Centre CCTV system, which was highlighted in the award press release as being close to delivery. It is precisely the kind of project which illustrates the broader role Inverurie BID can play, spearheaded by BID Manger, Derek.
It may not have the immediate public spectacle of a festival or pipe-band parade, but it contributes to the environment in which businesses operate and people use the town centre.
There are similar conversations and projects happening each and evey day. Some eventually become highly visible. Others simply improve how the town works.
Recognition shared with the town
Derek’s own reaction to the High Street Hero award has deliberately placed the achievement within Inverurie’s wider success.
“To personally receive a High Street Hero Award in the same year is a real honour,” he said. I’m fortunate to work alongside so many people who care passionately about Inverurie, whether through BID or the many other organisations and businesses contributing to the town.
That sense of collective responsibility is important. No BID manager delivers a thriving town centre alone. The work depends on businesses willing to engage and invest, board members giving their time, community organisations prepared to collaborate, volunteers delivering projects and partners willing to back ideas.”
The High Street Hero Award recognises Derek’s role within that network – advocating, coordinating, connecting and continually pushing for Inverurie’s interests.
And receiving it in the same year that Inverurie itself has been named Scotland’s Town of the Year makes the recognition particularly fitting.
More still to achieve
Perhaps the most characteristic part of Derek’s response to the award was his focus on what comes next.
“This recognition is really about that collective effort; be it the imminent delivery of our much-needed Town Centre CCTV system or other projects in the works, there is still a huge amount we want to achieve.”
That sums up the approach which has helped earn the High Street Hero title. Recognition is welcome. But the work continues.
There will always be another business that needs support, another issue requiring representation, another event to develop or another opportunity for Inverurie worth pursuing.
For We Are Inverurie, the priority remains what it has always been: promoting, supporting and championing the business community.
And for Derek, the role remains about helping connect that business community with the people, organisations and ideas capable of making Inverurie stronger.
Derek being award High Street Hero 2026 is deserved recognition of what has already been achieved. But, much like Inverurie’s Town of the Year title, its real value may lie in providing even greater momentum for what comes next.
