Glenurquhart Shinty Club Raffle supports local Care Centre

Glenurquhart Shinty Club Raffle supports local Care Centre

With a return to competitive shinty on the horizon, Glenurquhart Shinty Club chose to mark their return to training at Blairbeg Park by handing over a cheque for £1,030 to the Glen Urquhart Centre-the community owned charity which provides day care to residents not only in Drumnadrochit and Glenurquhart but also throughout the rest of the Aird district.

The money was raised as part of the Club’s Christmas Community raffle with the proceeds being split evenly between the Club and the Community. For former first team manager Glen and present Women’s team coach Billy Maclean this gesture underlines the strong link he knows exists between the shinty club and the wider community.

“With the generous help of many local businesses we have been running this raffle for a number of years. Originally, we called it the Swinndle because the draw was held annually in the Loch Ness Inn but in more recent years pre-Covid we had moved the draw to the local hall. This year however we had to have a socially distanced draw down here at Blairbeg before Christmas but then along came lockdown and we had to put the handover of the money on hold until we were allowed back to training again.”

Receiving the cheque from Laura Quinn of the Glen Club’s Fundraising Committee is Diane Norris, Convenor of the Glenurquhart Care Project, the umbrella body that oversees the Centre.

“We are grateful to the Club and the local business community for their efforts on our behalf- and it’s a regular annual occurrence. Like many Charities throughout the country Covid has put a big dent in our finances and many of our normal fund-raising activities have been badly affected. Despite the pandemic and the fact that some of our services have been restricted by it we are still in the business of providing help for the vulnerable in our community in many ways.

We provide meals as well as visits and we are a point of friendly contact for those who might feel lonely. We are making up to 60 calls a day, carrying out home visits, freshly made meals, transport to medical appointments, shopping and prescription deliveries. We also reach out to those who are shielding or recovering from illness.  The whole nature of our work has widened out and of course we are grateful for any financial help we can get”

The occasion climaxed an excellent weekend of charitable activity for the Glenurquhart Club with the handover of the cheque occurring on the same day that the club’s star front man Conor Golabek -supported on the final leg by several of his Glen team mates-finished off the last of his seven back-to-back marathons in aid of the Highland Hospice. Connor who was inspired to undertake his marathon achievement after seeing the excellent work of the Hospice at close quarters while working there as a volunteer, has so far raised almost £7000 including gift aid.