The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Fundraisers bear up for good cause
IF YOU CLIMB Scotland’s highest peak this weekend, you’re sure of a big surprise.
Brave fundraisers will mark the end of a gruelling charity trek with a teddy bears’ picnic on the slopes on Ben Nevis on Saturday.
Paul Johnstone and George Shiels from Kinross will set out today on their five-day hike, which will see them walk the 95-mile West Highland Way before tackling the mountain.
Their venture is being undertaken for the Scottish Cot Death Trust as part of a bid to raise £10,000.
The money is being used to produce a new book which helps siblings deal with the loss of a young brother or sister to cot death.
Paul (44) and George (41) are both members of Round Table Area 49, which has plunged headlong into a fundraising drive since an inspirational talk by local activist Wilma Carragher.
She lost her son, Andrew, as an infant, and appealed for money to buy monitors for parents’ later children.
The pair will leave Milngavie this morning, with their a three-foot teddy mascot.
Paul, a branch manager with Henderson Grass Machinery, said: “We first got involved through Wilma.
“She came to one of our Dragon’s Den nights and we presented her with £1200 at that point, which was enough to buy two monitors.
“We then got more involved through the Area Round Table and set out to raise £8000 to commission the book to be made for siblings to understand what’s happening when a new brother or sister dies.
“It will be the first time there has been anything like that for them.
“We then decided to try and get an extra £2000 and increase the total to £10,000 to buy a couple more monitors. The other aim is to raise awareness of the cot death trust and that there is someone there to help.”