Oban woman helps firm make £10,000 ‘gin gesture’ to hospital
A free consignment of top quality hand sanitiser costing £10,000 has made a cross country trip from Aberdeenshire to Argyll – all thanks to a local link, writes Ellis Butcher.
Oban-born Caroline MacIntyre, pictured right, an investment director with Deeside Distillery in Banchory over in the north-east, made it all happen after finding herself self isolating in her home town with parents Iain and Jane.
The privately-owned distillery she works for is famed for its high quality single malt whisky but its range also extends to gin, which uses pure alcohol and is a vital ingredient of highly protective hand sanitiser. Recently the NHS gave the green light for the distillery’s hand sanitiser as the product is urgently needed after a huge run worldwide following the coronavirus pandemic.
Caroline was determined that NHS staff working hard at the Lorn and Islands District General Hospital in Oban did not miss out on a batch, after the care she received there. Having already donated to many schools and hospitals, distillery owner Mike Bain was more than accommodating and arranged for a special palette to be duly delivered to the Glengallan Road centre this week, where it has been greatly appreciated.
Caroline said: ‘I am so delighted that our distillery could provide the hand sanitiser to the Lorn and Islands and across Argyll and Bute because apart from Oban being my hometown, I will never forget the care and attention given to me many years ago by all concerned at Lorn and Islands District General Hospital when I was very ill.
‘I always believe that if I had not come home to Oban I wouldn’t be here today.’
The Deeside batch apparently use the world’s strongest gin with an ABV of 87 per cent.