Bield tenant goes the extra mile for charity
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A tenant of Bield’s Craigengar Park retirement housing development in West Lothian has gone the extra mile by raising more than £2,000 in a charity walk for two local schools.
John Thompson embarked on an 11 and a half mile walk from the Livingston development to Hearts’ Tynecastle Stadium in Edinburgh to support Beatlie School and Cedarbank School.
Taking six and a half hours to complete, John, who was accompanied by his brother Patrick, had previously walked to Edinburgh’s Sighthill area in 2012 to raise funds for the same two schools. At that time he raised £1,200, but thanks to the generosity of friends and family, he collected an impressive £2,075 from this year’s walk.
Setting off in Livingston, the pair walked through Mid Calder and eventually all the way on to Tynecastle, following along the Union Canal.
John said: “I like to help people, especially those in the local area and so I am always keen to raise funds for the likes of local schools because to me, education is important.
“I have always liked to take part in various charitable activities and have done so for a number of different organisations, including the Erskine Hospital, the Army & Air Force and The Royal British Legion.
“The Union Canal is usually the route that I take on my sponsored walks because I love the scenery.”
John is also heavily involved in planning and organising social events and activities at the Craigengar Park development, including movie nights, bingo nights, buffet evenings and events such as day trips to Edinburgh and meals out on special occasions.
On top of this, John is a green fingered enthusiast, often taking on much of the gardening at the development so that other tenants can enjoy the garden on the warmer summer days.
John added: “I think it’s really important to keep active and to keep socialising, which is why I like to help out with social initiatives at the development.
“We all have a lot of fun and we always seem to have lots of activities planned such as new age curling, carpet bowling, coffee mornings and quizzes too.
“I am hoping to get the garden looking great for when the warm weather finally arrives as it would be nice to make use of this during the summer for the likes of barbecues.”
The charity enthusiast also raised a staggering £9,000 last year after spending two weeks at the local Morrisons in Livingston selling badges for Poppy Scotland.
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