Brothers smash their target
Two big-hearted brothers aged just five and six from Rutherglen who organised a charity football game have raised nearly five times their target.
The Reformer reported a fortnight ago about Samuel and Daniel Johnston wanting to do something to help those less fortunate after six-year-old Samuel learned about charity in school.
So the Calderwood Primary pupils drew on their love of football to get their pals together at Stonelaw pitches for a charity match on Saturday, June 24.
It proved to be a massive success, with 22 players taking part.
The boys, who wanted to raise £250 for the Beatson Cancer Charity, collected £368 on the day with a further £800 being donated to their Just Giving page.
Proud mum Kirsty McDougall said: “It went really well. All the kids turned up along with a lot of parents and grandparents, and they all really seemed to enjoy it. Samuel and Daniel were very excited about being in the paper and were telling everyone about it.
“They had great fun and were on the winning team, although it wasn’t really about winning or losing and they all got a certificate.
“It was quite windy, which made it cold, but the kids didn’t even notice because they were running about.
“We had people from the Meeting Place at Stonelaw Church serving tea and coffee and that kept people warm.”
Samuel and Daniel chose the Beatson as their granddad, Colin Johnston – who was among the crowd – was there 11 years ago after being diagnosed with cancer.
The family has also experienced tragedy. Kirsty’s cousin, Chris McDougall, passed away from cancer at the age of 28 last year.
Samuel is already talking about doing it again, and Kirsty laughed: “We’ll wait and see. It’s a lot of hard work, but it was worth it to raise so much money.”