Edinburgh sports club gives cash to cancer and MND charities in memory of three members who died

An Edinburgh sports club has donated more than £800 to charity in memory of three of its members who have died recently.

Corstorphine Amateur Athletic Club handed over a cheque for £550 to Maggie’s Edinburgh in recognition of the support provided by the cancer care specialist to CAAC runners Fiona Carver and Moira Findlay, who died aged 62 and 52 after brave battles with the disease.

Corstorphine AAC co-captains Jack Fullerton, left, and Janet Grigor, right, with Charlotte Brink of the Maggie’s fundraising team.

And a further £275 was gifted to My Name’5 Doddie Foundation to honour Ruth Williamson, who passed away last April at the age of just 41. She was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) in 2017, just 11 months after giving birth to her daughter Anna.

The cash came from the post-Covid return of the club’s ceilidh held at Bainfield Bowling Club in Gorgie. The event featured a fundraising raffle and buffet, with the traditional Scots music provided by Da Hooley ceilidh band.

The club’s co-captains, Janet Grigor and Jack Fullerton, visited the Maggie’s base at Edinburgh’s Western General Hospital to hand over the cheque.

Hailing the “fantastic work” carried out by the two charities, Janet said: “The ceilidh celebrated our dear friends’ time with us and remembered their joy of life and of running and dancing, and their fitness and vitality. We decided it would be fitting to donate any profits made to Maggie’s Edinburgh and My Name’5 Doddie Foundation.”

Coach Jan-Bert van den Berg was among those who paid tribute to the club’s much-missed trio. He said: “It is sometimes difficult to put into words just how amazing some people are. Fiona, Ruth and Moira were three great runners I had the pleasure of training with and competing against. They didn’t just excel at running but also at living.

“At training, all were just fantastic at making you feel at ease and welcomed when you joined your first training session as a CAAC newbie. They were also never short of encouragement when you were flagging on the track, and always interested to know how your weekend races had gone.

“They just excelled at positivity and showed incredible emotional strength when faced with impossible life challenges. There is just so much to learn from these three incredible women and how they embraced life. We have been so fortunate to have known them.”

Charlotte Brink, from Maggie’s, thanked CAAC members for the “incredible” donation. She added: “I am glad the club had an enjoyable ceilidh, and I am glad to hear that we were able to be there for Fiona and Moira when they needed it the most.”

Mia Noquet, community and volunteer fundraiser at My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, said: “MND is an incredibly cruel disease, and to hear that Corstorphine AAC felt it fitting to make a donation in Ruth’s memory, after what sounds like a lovely evening spent celebrating three such important people, is such a thoughtful gesture. We really could not continue funding vital MND research without the community we are so lucky to have around us.”