FORMER wrestler Tommy Stevenson has been adopted as the SNP candidate to contest the Hawick and Hermitage ward at the Scottish Borders Council elections on May 3.
A Boys’ Brigade officer, Mr Stevenson was a local government officer for many years and has had experience of numerous local organisations, including community councils and the Children’s Panel. He is an elder at Teviothead Church and chair of the village hall committee.
A keen Rotarian, he is a past winner of the club’s Service Above Self award. He also enjoys gardening and is a boxing fan. He wrestled professionally for 12 years.
He said: “My experience as a community councillor allied to having been a council employee for many years means that if elected I can hit the ground running.
“I will work to increase the number of affordable homes, continue increasing police numbers in the Borders, and find ways to attract people to stay in or move to a newly thriving Hawick by encouraging trade and other types of employment.”
The two Hawick wards – Hawick and Hermitage and Hawick and Denholm – are currently SNP-free zones, returned three Lib Dems, two Conservatives and an Independent at the 2007 polls.