Andrew gets ‘well kent’ Scots to help raise cash
ANDREW SCOTT, from Milnathort, admits he never really did well at school – it was his banter that got him through.
So, when he landed a fantastic job in the hospitality industry, even Andrew was surprised.
For years, Andrew worked in hotels, bars and restaurants, before opening his own cafe and consultancy business.
He knows only too well how hard it is to climb the ranks, so when he came across Hospitality Industry Trust Scotland, which arranges scholarships to help people working in the field recognise their potential, he was happy to help. The charity was arranging a fundraising trek of the Great Wall of China and Andrew immediately signed up.
He’s a keen cyclist with a reasonable level of fitness – how hard could a five-day hike be?
Raising a minimum of £2000 in sponsorship would be the easy part – or so he thought.
Andrew organised raffles and a ceilidh, and the money started trickling in. But then he hit a standstill.
He realised he had to do something that would capture people’s imagination and attention. And then as luck would have it, Andrew was on a train to London when he spotted a familiar face in the carriage – Alistair Darling.
And then he had a lightbulb moment.
Using his gift of the gab, Andrew approached the MP and told him all about the China trek.
Then he cheekily asked if Alistair would record a quick video message, asking people to donate. Amazingly, he agreed.
It signalled the start of a campaign to collect messages from ‘well kent’ Scottish faces.
Before he knew it, Andrew had gathered endorsements from celebrity chefs Aldo Zilli and Theo Randall, DJ Des Clarke, weathergirl Judith Ralston, racing driver Gordon Shedden, actor Grant Stott and even One For Arthur, the winning horse in the Grand National.
It was all a bit of fun, but the high profile video has now been viewed more than 5000 times.
It seems all you need is a good bit of banter and you’ll go far.
Now all Andrew, who sets off this week, needs to worry about is the walking!
To view the video, visit https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=tQd999DW6U4&t=78s