Lomond School in Helensburgh donates £1,000 to Erskine charity

Joe Bull, the school’s vice-captain and head of the charity committee, and Alister Minnis, depute head, recently visited the charity at Bishopton to hand over the donation on behalf of both the school and Caulders Garden Centre who have a site at Erskine.

Caulders donated a floral display at the school’s 40th anniversary black tie event and, in response, the school committed to raising the £1,000 for the charity.

The amount was raised through various sponsored activities, such as a FIFA competition, non-uniform days, guess how many sweets in a jar, and the sixth-year boys had their legs waxed.

The money will be spent on the Erskine residents’ trips to Castle Semple in Lochwinnoch.

Mr Minnis said: “We choose a number of charities each year to benefit from our various fundraising activities and support a range of local and international charities.

“This year, we are also supporting CHAS, Brain Tumour Research and the Larchfield Orphanage in Tanzania.

“Service is one of our guiding principles at Lomond and the notion of giving back and contributing to society in a positive way is something we take very seriously and which we aim to instil in our young people as well.”

Erskine, Scotland’s foremost provider of care for veterans and their spouses, provides unrivalled nursing, residential, respite and dementia care in four homes throughout Scotland.

It also assists younger veterans who need help to begin the next chapter of their lives, offering social, recreation and training facilities at its activity centre and employment opportunities in partnership with Scotland’s Bravest Manufacturing Co.

The charity has 44 cottages for veterans and their families on the Erskine Estate in Bishopton, as well as five assisted living apartments, with building work under way on 24 single living apartments - creating a veterans village supporting veterans of all ages.

Community fundraiser Jim Watret said: “As a charity, we rely on the generosity of our supporters to maintain our commitment to care for Scotland’s veterans – without donations we simply cannot continue this work.

“We are very grateful to Lomond School and Caulders for their fundraising efforts and it is particularly rewarding to see young people actively looking to support our veterans.”