Cash pot for youth groups

AN MSP has highlighted a new funding opportunity to help a town celebrate its 70th anniversary.

To mark the Scottish Government’s Year of Yo u n g Pe o p l e 2 0 1 8 , £550,000 of National Lottery funding is now available for projects that will help young people spark some sort of change in their lives.

Mid Fife and Glenrothes MSP Jenny Gilruth is encouraging local youth groups to apply to the Year of Young People National Lottery Fund.

It offers awards of between £3,000 and £10,000 to heritage, community and sports projects that are run for and by young people aged 8-26 and that are designed to improve their health and wellbeing.

The MSP said Scotland’s Year of Young People coinciding with Glenrothes’s 70th anniversary offered a unique chance for youngsters in the town to benefit.

She said: “This fund is a huge opportunity for local groups to mark our town’s heritage and inspire young people to be at the forefront of the celebrations.”

Derek Johnston, owner of Derek Johnston Motors in Monifieth for the past 30 years, died at Roxburghe House after a battle with cancer.

Today his wife Irene said Derek, 61, remained positive to the end and never once complained about his illness.

She said that Derek was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus in September, after feeling unwell for almost a year.

Irene, 63, said: “Doctors at the time told him his cancer was terminal and that he might only have months left to live.

“Despite that, Derek never complained and managed to stay positive. He was given chemotherapy but sadly it made him feel very ill.

“My son Paul Myles was due to marry his fiancée Leanne at the Queen’s Hotel in Dundee in October, only a few weeks after Derek was diagnosed.

“None of us thought that Derek would make the wedding because he was too unwell, so when he turned up unannounced, fully kitted out in his kilt, it was a wonderful surprise for all of us.

“It was so typical of Derek to do something like that for other people.

“We all thought he was going to be too ill to make it but all the time he had been planning the surprise.”

Irene said that Derek was forced to give up work after being diagnosed.

She said: “Sadly, he spent the last six months of his life in bed. It was very upsetting because he just wasn’t the kind of man to do that.

A DEVOTED dad and grandad, who surprised his family when he appeared unannounced at his stepson’s wedding only weeks after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, has died.

Liam

Colgan