Celebrating A Young Leader

Archie Webster

Archie Webster, a dedicated pupil from Inverness Royal Academy, became the first recipient of the Diamond Hoodie, recognising 1,000 hours of volunteering through the High Life Highland Young Leadership programme. In 2024, Archie's achievements included winning the Inspiring Young Leader of the Year award, earning his Platinum Hoodie for 750 hours of service, and organising an 83-mile charity cycle that raised £1,372 for Mikeysline. Archie is the first Young Leader to complete all Hoodie milestones, having been awarded his eighth hoodie in 2024. We spoke with him to learn more about what drives his commitment to volunteering. 

What inspired you to start volunteering?

I started volunteering at Torvean parkrun in the summer of 2022 when an injury meant I could not take part, but I still wanted to be involved so I took up the role of barcode scanning so I didn’t miss out.

It was from this that I then found out about the Highlife Highland Leadership Programme and started volunteering at their active schools’ sports camps which has then led on to many different opportunities such as volunteering at Baxter’s Loch Ness Marathon, Inverness ½ marathon, ETAPE Loch Ness and the Highland Cross to name but a few.

What has been your best experience as a volunteer?

One of my most memorable and best experiences as a volunteer would be getting to be involved on a panel with Young Scot looking at providing free bikes to young people across Scotland who maybe couldn’t afford it. I really enjoyed this opportunity as it allowed me to collaborate and network with other young people from across Scotland while working together to provide ideas and suggestions to get this project up and running.

As our time on the panel came to an end it was rewarding to hear back from Transport Scotland and other stakeholders in the project that they liked our findings and were impressed with some of the things we came up with that they had never thought about.

Is there anything you would like to share about your volunteering journey?

My young age could have affected my volunteering journey as my first ever time volunteering at the Baxter’s Loch Ness Marathon in 2022 was Soup Can Opening which was not the most glamorous job, but I got the job done which shows I was determined and willing to do anything. This then led me to becoming soup opening team leader in 2023 & 2024 before getting a huge responsibility at the ETAPE Loch Ness in 2025 as Assistant Course Manager.

While trying to achieve my platinum hoodie on the Highlife Highland Leadership Programme which included reaching 750 volunteering hours, I had to come up with my own charity fundraiser. I decided upon a cycle to Aviemore from Inverness and back raising funds for Mikeysline, a non-profit charity that supports anyone and everyone with mental health issues across the Highlands and further afield.

The cycle itself was incredibly challenging, seeing four seasons in one day at the start of June. There were times when I wanted to cave in and give up, but I kept going as it was very rewarding reaching Inverness 12 hours later knowing I had completed the challenge I had set out to do, I had also raised over £1,300 for such an important charity.