Trad band overwhelmed by kindness after van set alight
MORE than £8,000 has been raised for a traditional music band from the Highlands and Islands after their van was set alight with their instruments inside.
Hò-Rò were heartbroken when they made the discovery last week, however, a crowdfunding page has been set up and so far 316 people have donated £8,103
The incident took place in the early hours of Wednesday September 6 in the Govan area of Glasgow.
The band took to social media and told their fans what had happened and in just 24 hours the story had reached 120,000 people.
A promoter called EPL Events saw the post and decided to start a crowdfunding campaign titled Helping Hò-Rò.
Writing on social media, they said: ‘Please help this great young band get back on their feet.
‘We were lucky enough to have Hò-Rò play for us [in] 2015 at our first ever event and we certainly would love to see them back here again.
‘So please take the time to contribute something, anything, to keep this young band’s dream alive.’
In just 12 hours the campaign had raised a total of £2,500.
Sean Cousins, the band’s acoustic guitar player, told The Oban Times: ‘The support has been unbelievable. We are gobsmacked. You don’t realise how much people appreciate you until something like this happens.
‘We have had offers from places such as the Nevis Centre to let us put on a gig free to raise money.’
The band is made up of six members, who are now based in Glasgow but come from South Uist, the Isle of Lewis, Glencoe and Inverness.
‘We have never asked for anyone to donate anything,’ Sean added. ‘But people are doing it off their own backs and it is just amazing. We really appreciate it.
‘We know we need a van, but we don’t know what’s happening with the insurance.
‘So having that from our supporters really helps us out because it gives us a wee bit of relief.’ An additional £5,000 has since been donated to the Helping Hò-rò campaign.
The band have again responded to the generosity of their fans on social media.
‘We would like to say such a massive thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all of your support since the incident on Wednesday,’ they wrote on Facebook.
‘From the kind messages we’ve received to the very generous donations people have been giving, we honestly can’t thank you enough!
‘We would also like to thank Ewan at EPL Events for setting up the donations page to help us get back on our feet.
‘You guys are just the best, love from all of us at Hò-rò.’
A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: ‘At 4.15am police received a report of a van on fire in Harrison Drive on Wednesday September 6.
‘Officers attended and a 47-year-old man was arrested in connection with the incident.’