The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Trisha’s bake off efforts raise cash for club’s swimming talent
Super-gran Trisha Fairweather has been named “star baker” by Perth City Swim Club after raising £500 to support a group of the club’s top swimmers.
The showstopping effort will help fund the costs involved in sending 17 swimmers to a warm weather training camp in Tenerife next week.
Trisha sold countless trays of homemade tablet to customers of James Pirie and Son, the award-winning butcher shop in Newtyle. She also held cake sales at several community events in the Angus village.
Trisha, whose granddaughter Fearne Crighton, 13, is among the swimmers jetting off to the week-long camp at the T3 training facility in the Canary Islands, said she was delighted to lend a hand.
She said: “It is a great opportunity for these young swimmers to go and train for a week abroad and I wanted to help out in whatever way I could.
“I enjoy baking so I started selling tablet in the shop and the customers have been brilliant in supporting the kids by buying lots and lots of bags of it.
“I’ve been selling cakes and tablet at other events too and I want to thank the people of Newtyle for the amazing support they have given me.”
The 17 swimmers, aged from 13 upwards, were challenged to fund their own costs.
Trisha said her contribution would help pay for a bus to transport the team to and from Edinburgh Airport.
She and Fearne also helped fund and design a set of Perth City swim caps.
Club president Carol Mcpartland paid tribute to Trisha’s efforts and said all the swimmers were grateful to her.
She said: “Volunteers and fundraisers are the backbone of any club like ours and without them we would struggle to exist in the way we do.
“Trisha’s efforts have been great and she has clearly worked really hard to bake and sell a lot of treats to raise such an outstanding sum of money.
“Her contribution is helping to provide a bus so the kids and coaches can travel as a team to the airport and all of the swimmers have received a new cap too.
“We want to take the opportunity to thank, not just Trisha and the other fundraisers like her, but also the people who have put heir hands in their pockets to buy her treats.”