The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Firm’ s £25k gift allows charity to reopen vital lodge
Lockdown has been an incredibly different time for all charities with funding opportunities like street collections and sponsored events being almost impossible.
Across the country, good causes have seen their incomes dip and it’s a worrying time for organisations that exist to help others.
However, thanks to a generous donation from Dundee’s Brown & Tawse Steelstock, Tayside and North East Fife Children with Cancer and Leukaemia (TCCL) has been awarded £25,000 which will cover the cost of running its holiday home in St Andrews for a whole year.
The specialist steel firm, which has sites across Scotland and the north of
England, has gifted £25,000 to TCCL Lodge after hearing about the good work of the charity from its sales executive Dianne Robertson.
Established 27 years ago to provide practical, emotional and financial support to families across Tayside and Fife experiencing childhood cancer, the charity opened a holiday home in St Andrews in 2015 following a £500,000 fundraising campaign.
Since then, the luxury lodge has been providing families with up to a week’s free stay in the seaside town.
TCCL Lodge chairperson Rosalie Wilkie said: “Although TCCL continued to give grants to families and provide all of the support we usually do, lockdown meant we had to close the doors of the lodge to families.
“This was very hard as we knew families needed the support then more than ever.
“However, now the lodge has reopened, and it has been fantastic to see so many families benefitting from a visit again”.
Dr Wilkie added: “Fundraising to support TCCL and the lodge has been pretty much impossible since March 2020 and we are very grateful to everyone who continued their support, particularly those signing up to our Friends of TCCL scheme, but like so many other charities we were concerned about the dip in income due to lockdown.
“We were delighted to hear about the donation from Brown & Tawse Steelstock, which will cover our running costs for a year and ensure so many other families can make special memories with a visit to TCCL Lodge in St Andrews.
“We are very grateful to them and to Dianne Robertson for putting us forward.”
Brown & Tawse managing director Ian Harding said: “We decided at the end of last year that we wanted to support a handful of good causes in the areas in which our group operates in Scotland and northern England.
“TCCL is a great charity, helping so many families at a very difficult time in their lives and we are delighted that Brown & Tawse is able to support them in this work.”