Inverness duo feel the need... the need for speed – in aid of Highland Hospice
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AN adventurous pair feeling the need for speed are getting set to take to the skies for a wing walk aimed at raising more than £12,000 for Highland Hospice.
Morag McGilvray, of Culduthel, and Joan Mackenzie, who lives in Inverness city centre, recently completed a fire walk for Marie Curie but are hoping to take their next fundraising effort to new heights.
The pair, who are also known as Maverick Mog and Joan Jett, have chosen Top Gun as the theme for their charity effort as they are both huge fans of the classic 1980s action film and will take off from a Kent airfield for their daredevil flights on September 22.
They are hoping to raise a total of £12,500 to buy a special “cuddle bed” for the hospice, designed to allow family members to lie next to their loved ones.
They are raising the money to thank hospice staff for providing respite care for Morag’s father Tom Scott, who died in June aged 64.
She said: “We were trying to think of something different. The hospice were brilliant with my dad. He went in for two weeks respite a month before he died. He got to know the staff – especially the chaplain Reverend Norma Higgott.
“It was Ian, my husband, who suggested it. We were joking because we did the fire walk in March. He saw it online and he said ‘that’d be cool’.”
The hospice’s community fundraiser Emma Nicol said: “They have already raised an incredible sum of money for the hospice which will mean a cuddle bed for one of our rooms which will be appreciated by many patients and their loved ones.”
Rev Higgott conducted Mr Scott’s funeral and described him as a “lovely character” and a “real gentleman”.
“I think it’s wonderful what they are doing and it is so brave.”
