Home   Lifestyle   Article

Inspired by others to take up fund-raising challenge





Amanda Mackay has set herself a 500-mile fund-raising challenge.
Amanda Mackay has set herself a 500-mile fund-raising challenge.

AMANDA Mackay spends her working week encouraging people to fund-raise for the Highland Hospice. Whether it is offering support and advice to someone organising their own event, or persuading people to take part in one of the hospice’s own calendar events, Mrs Mackay is always on hand with words of encouragement.

So after six years as the events and community fund-raiser for Highland Hospice, the 27-year-old thought it was about time she practiced what she preached.

Now, she is embarking on the challenge of a lifetime, as she attempts to cover a distance of 500 miles in a variety of ways to raise £5000.

Mrs Mackay started working for the hospice after graduating with a degree in psychology from Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh.

"I just really enjoy it," she said. "It is just the variety of meeting so many different people. It is not a job where you know what you are doing on a day-to-day basis."

She remains amazed at the fund-raising ideas members of the public come up with. "We have had everything," she said.

One fund-raiser which immediately springs to mind is Ullapool man John Urquhart, who walked Bealach na Ba (Pass of the Cattle), the road to Applecross, backwards to raise money for the hospice. He envisaged raising £300 but managed £3200.

And it is seeing the joy and sense of achievement people get from fund-raising for the hospice which gives Mrs Mackay greatest enjoyment.

"It is partly why I decided to do this challenge," she said. "For years, I have been saying to people ‘It is easy, you can do this.’ I have been helping people do their own challenges, but I hadn’t done anything myself. I thought I should throw myself in and see things from the other side."

She set her mind on an international challenge, but was keen to experience some local events too.

Inspired by The Proclaimers’ song 500 miles, Mrs Mackay, of Macleod Place, Dingwall, decided to devise a series of challenges, covering that distance.

Already she has done 15 miles with the Black Isle Cycle Challenge, an annual fund-raiser for the hospice, while later this month she tackles the Great Wilderness Challenge (eight miles), then in October it is the Baxter’s Festival of Running, where she hopes to run three miles.

Over the course of the next six months she plans to swim the 23-mile length of Loch Ness in the swimming pool, and walk the length of the Highlands (126 miles as the crow flies) — distances she hopes to clock up through individual walks and swims.

The culmination of her 500-mile challenge is a 326-mile cycle in the Hospice’s Ho Chi Minh to Angkor Wat Cycle through Cambodia and Vietnam in February next year.

She admits the training has been daunting and when she came up with the 500-mile idea she had not ridden a bike since primary school.

She was in the middle of thinking about the challenge when a bright pink bike was delivered to the hospice to sell in one of its shops.

Mrs Mackay, who also volunteers with Befrienders Highland, bought it for £50 and immediately signed up for the Great Wilderness Challenge.

However, she soon realised she needed a better bike for the distances she wanted to cover, and a regular fund-raiser who learned of her challenge lent her one.

"It is part of what happens here," she said. "There has been so much support from people."

And it is these people she is taking inspiration from — Inverness bus driver Alex Mackenzie has done five international challenges for the hospice and raised more than £30,000.

"He puts a can in his bus and comes in with £1000 — donations from people just getting on his bus," she said.

As well as doing her own challenge, Mrs Mackay is also looking ahead to the 25th anniversary of Highland Hospice next year.

In her role she helps organise the hospice’s calendar of fund-raising events, ranging from black tie dinner/dances to quiz nights, and helps members of the public, who want to organise their own event and raise money.

However, she admits the economic recession has had an impact on fund-raising.

"We have seen a difference, but not a significant difference," she said. "People are just so generous — the hospice is such a well-supported charity and so many people have experienced the care here."

However, she thinks it is important to remain innovative.

"We are always looking for new events," she said.

Ideas for its 25th anniversary include an international challenge in Zambia, with four days canoeing and three days at a hospice, a Superheroes sponsored walk for all ages, and a garden party to thank its 700 volunteers.

The Highland Hospice Grand Auction, which takes place every five years and regularly raises around £120,000, is also likely to be held next year.

? To help Mrs Mackay reach her fund-raising target, visit www.justgiving.com/Amanda-Mackay


Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.



This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies - Learn More