Charity concert will be last
The final We’ll Walk This Road Together charity concert takes place next month.
This year’s gig, which features Manran, Skerryvore and Skipinnish, will be held at the Corran Halls, Oban, at 7.30pm on Saturday September 22.
The event was originally organised by Neil ‘Nonny’ MacInnes, who raised more than £50,000 for charity through his concerts. Nonny founded the DMI Cancer Trust after losing his dad to the illness. Nonny, a former Oban Camanachd captain, also sadly passed away in March 2017 from the disease.
This year his widow Karen has organised a farewell gig and hopes to raise £15,000. She confirmed that 100 per cent of ticket sales will go to Pancreatic Cancer Scotland.
Karen said: ‘It has been a challenging process because Nonny and I did it as a team the last few times. It’s a massive thing to organise and it’s been quite emotional as well.
‘We have sold hundreds of tickets so far, but I’m a wee bit nervous. I don’t want people being upset because Nonny isn’t there. I want them to enjoy it for what it is.
‘It’s quite emotional putting it together, but at the same time it’s a bit of a celebration. We need to remember what it was set up for in the beginning. But I am nervous it won’t sell out. Everyone has expectations. Nonny and I were the same right up until the night. We could not enjoy ourselves until about 10 o’clock.
With Nonny not being there and with him being the one behind it – this needs to be the final one. I will continue to do charity work, but not through the concert.’
As well as entertainment from some of the top traditional music bands, there will also be a raffle featuring prizes such as a week on Barra for four people, a three-night stay at the Loch Melfort Hotel, and a night in a pod in Iona.
Last year, due to ill health, Nonny was unable to organise the annual concert. However, his friend John Scott stepped in and organised a charity football tournament titled We’ll Play This Game Together, which raised more than £15,000. And in March of this year some of the country’s top DJs made their way to the Corran Halls for the We’ll Dance This Road Together event, which was organised by Tony Howlett.