Mary loses and gains pounds

A Paisley mum gained pounds on a sponsored slim-in – and she was delighted.

Forty-year-old Mary Dykes raised more than £1,000 for charity and lost two stones in just eight weeks.

Mary, who weighed a hefty 17 stones before she started her calorie count, was pleased with her slimmer figure and she was determined to keep on going until she reached her target weight of around nine stones, we reported in May 1989.

She said:“I am feeling a lot fitter and healthier and I am delighted at how much I have managed to raise for charity.”

Mary decided to fight the flab for charity after reading the heartbreaking story of a mum whose young son died of cancer and who had set up a trust fund to help others.

She said:“When I read in the Paisley Daily Express about Mrs Margot Rennie, who is setting up a trust fund to help children suffering from cancer, I decided I could lose weight and help her trust at the same time.”

And at a special presentation ceremony in the Wee Barrel pub in Paisley’s Love Street, Mrs Dykes handed over a cheque for £1,093 to Mrs Rennie for the Iain Rennie Trust Fund, which was named after the

Bushes Primary School pupil who died of a rare form of cancer – neuroblastoma.

The cash was to be used to buy specialist equipment for Yorkhill Hospital for Sick

Children, in Glasgow.

Mrs Rennie said:“With this donation from Mrs Dykes we have now raised a total of £3,000.

“We are extremely grateful to her.

“I think she has a lot of guts to have gone round High Street stores and local pubs raising money for the trust.”