Charities toast success of beer named after ex-royal Marine

Charities are toasting the popularity of a pint named in honour of a terminally ill ex-royal Marine facing his fiercest enemy yet.

Stuart Lavery, a leading light in the Arbroath-based 45 Commando Veterans group, is battling bone cancer, but is refusing to let the disease hamper his involvement in local life, particularly in connection with the elite service he served in around the globe, including in Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles.

He also undertook the unusual role of protecting King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table when he worked as a security guard on the Isle of Skye during filming of Guy Ritchie’s movie King Arthur, which starred Jude Law, Eric Bana and Charlie Hunnam.

Mr Lavery, who has undergone chemotherapy at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, is a well-known figure in Arbroath, where his daughter Simone runs the Anchor Bar in West Port.

Earlier this year he was delighted when Simone sprung the surprise of unveiling Lavery’s beer and lager for the bar of the busy pub, in a gesture which was also aimed at putting some cash in charity coffers. The beer has been going down a treat, with 20p from every £2.60 pint going into a charity pot.

Cheques have now been presented by the Anchor Bar and 45 Commando Veterans to Ward 34 at Ninewells which looks after cancer patients, and the UK Homes for Heroes charity.

Each organisation received £150 thanks to the popularity of the Lavery brews and the money was handed over at the latest successful veterans’ breakfast in Arbroath, held in the Anchor.

The charity donations are the latest handovers from the association which has seen around £15,000 raised in the past few years for good causes.

Picture: Wallace Ferrier. Back: Stuart Lavery, Laura Sievwright and Dave Cuthill; front: Phil Powell, Dave Edwards and Dave Mccaig.