BANKIE brothers who created a personal safety charity aimed at women have celebrated their 20th anniversary in the business.

Alan Bell and his brother, David, founders of the Scottish Centre for Personal Safety, first began providing personal safety courses, talks and workshops back in 1997 as a not-for-profit social enterprise under the name Security And Safety.

Both brothers had qualified as personal safety instructors through the National Federation for Personal Safety.

Alan went on to qualify as a self defence instructor through the Self Defence Federation, using his previous military and bodyguard training – known as close protection – to develop specific courses for female victims of violence.

David, who is also qualified as a self-defence instructor, uses his experiences as a bouncer in Clydebank to add “another touch of realism” to the scenarios used on the courses.

The not-for-profit organisation worked with numerous worthwhile causes designed to help women feel more secure in their day-to-day lives, including Women’s Aid, Rape Crisis Scotland and multiple domestic violence forums.

But it was not until 2013 when the duo, who hail from Parkhall, achieved their goal of becoming a charity.

Last year they officially opened the Barony St John Centre by world renowned martial arts expert Bill “Superfoot” Wallace on the 720th anniversary of the original William Wallace’s taking of Ardrossan Castle.

Alan said: “We recently had to add up all of the people we have trained for a funding application. Amazingly, over the years we have trained almost 4,300 people, many of whom have been victims of violence.

“We’ve trained all over the UK from Wick to London and we’ve also ran specific courses for children in various schools and nurseries throughout Scotland.

“Our proudest achievement was developing a personal safety course specifically for the blind and visually impaired, which we have just completed today with two blind people passing our Instructor exam day.”

David added: “It doesn’t seem like 20 years ago that we started this venture in Clydebank but it’s satisfying to know that we’ve helped so many people over the years.

“Watching the new instructors pass their exam today reminded me that although we say we provide personal safety and self defence training, what we actually provide people with is self confidence and self esteem.”