Wood you believe it! Fundraiser takes on cross country challenge

Campaigner will raise money to buy an addiction support centre

A challenge to carry a large wooden cross weighing three stones for 600 miles across Scotland is moving through Angus.

Gordon Cruden, 50, started the charity fundraiser on Easter Sunday from Peterhead to raise funds to buy a building to house an addiction centre in Aberdeenshire.

Gordon, a former alcoholic who has been in recovery for 30 years, works as a team manager for Teen Challenge North East Scotland, which has centres in Peterhead and Fyvie.

He has been helped by around 100 people to carry the 12ft by 6ft cross as he travelled through Perth to the central belt, then through Fife and Dundee to the Angus coast.

Speaking in Arbroath, he said: “This is to raise money for a women and children’s recovery home in Mintlaw.

“We are presently renting it but the lease runs out in a couple of years. We can either buy it or leave. We decided to buy it.

“This challenge is part of a five-year campaign to raise £535,000.

“We made the cross in our workshop from some redwood. It’s joined together by a couple of bolts and has a wheel at the back otherwise it would lose a couple of inches a day from hitting the road.

“You just put the cross over your shoulder and pull it. It was tiring at first but it’s got better as we’ve gone along.

“It’s been fun meeting people, though it’s actually surprising, the number of people who don’t say a thing as you walk past.

“We’re collecting money on the way and the challenge has raised about £15,000 so far.”

Gordon, a father of four from Oldmeldrum, has raised £420,000 towards buying the centre through three personal challenges in the past two years.

In 2015 he rode solo to 47 European capitals on a motorbike and later that year he spent 30 days “homeless” in London, Cardiff, Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh and Aberdeen with no money or credit cards to raise awareness of the homelessness situation in the UK.

“We have been covering about 20 miles a day,” he said. “We are going to finish in Montrose on Friday and then, on Saturday, will walk to Stonehaven. On Sunday we will travel from Stonehaven to Dyce and then finish at our men’s centre in Fyvie on Monday.

“We want to raise awareness that there is help for women that are struggling in addiction.

“Secondly, we want to raise money for Benaiah, the women’s centre, and, thirdly, it’s for the challenge, to challenge ourselves.

“For us at Team Challenge. the spiritual enlightenment is God and the Bible, hence the cross.”

we want to raise awareness that there is help for women that are struggling...

Picture: Paul Reid. Gordon Cruden will carry a three-stone wooden cross around the east coast of Scotland, raising funds as he goes.