Caithness groups get share of £18,200 from Thurso fundraising football match
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Twenty-six clubs, charities and community groups have been given an equal share of a bumper £18,000-plus payout following a showpiece fundraising football match in Thurso.
A team of Rangers Legends travelled north to take on a Thurso 999 Services select at the Dammies in June, followed by a sportsman's dinner in the town's Royal British Legion. Planning for the event had started two years earlier but it was delayed by Covid.
The initial target was to surpass the £10,000 raised at a game between Thurso firefighters and RNLI members in 2019. But the total came to just over £30,000 after expenses to cover costs such as transport, accommodation, stationery and posters.
Some of the money will be used to provide four 24-hour accessible defibrillators in Thurso and the surrounding area. Charitable organisations in the county were invited to apply for a share of the rest of the cash.
Representatives of the 26 organisations gathered at the Legion recently to receive their cheques for £700 each – a total of £18,200.
The staff of Bank of Scotland's Caithness branches received a donation of £500 for a charity walk in aid of Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland, while Caithness Rugby Club also got £500.
The remaining money from the charity match has been used to purchase defibrillators.
"We are now awaiting their arrival so they can be placed within the local community," said Brian Davidson, who put together the organising committee along with David Bain and Karl Drummond.
"We and the rest of the guys are just delighted that we could help so many different charities, clubs and organisations. It was a pleasure to see so many attend and we are glad to have been able to help in some way.
"It brought to an end what was a very long and sometimes stressful two years, but to know that so many have gained from this has made it all worth it in the end.
"Hopefully we can do it all again soon and get the Celtic Legends up for another great weekend and raise more for the community."
The clubs, charities and organisations that received £700 donations were:
- HM Coastguard, Scrabster
- Wick Family Centre
- Caithness and Sutherland Women’s Aid
- Enable
- Riding for the Disabled Association
- Thurso Academicals FC
- Top Joe's FC
- Pentland Firth Yacht Club
- Caithness Ladies' Football Club
- NRG Dance
- Caithness Athletics
- Caithness Gymnastics
- Caithness Rural Transport
- Friends of Newtonhill Woodland
- John O'Groats Playpark
- Thurso Youth Darts Club
- Pulteney House
- Canisbay School of Dance
- Caithness Klics young carers
- Halkirk Junior Football Club
- North Highland Cancer Information and Support Centre
- Thurso Heritage Society
- 5th Thurso Brownies
- Budding Engineers CIC
- Befriending Caithness
- John O'Groats Junior Football Club
Rangers Legends featured famous names such as Gordon Durie, Gordon Smith, Charlie Miller, Bob Malcolm, Derek Ferguson, Grégory Vignal, John MacDonald, Alex Rae and Ian Ferguson. Ian Durrant was in charge of the former Ibrox stars, who won the match 2-1 in front of a bumper crowd with a variety of stalls set up for the day.
Main sponsors were Eric Gunn Driver Training, CS Drilling Services and Autoquip Motors, while Robbie Fraser was match-ball sponsor. A barrel lid and stave made by Calum Macleod was presented to the Rangers Legends.
