Petition to name Edinburgh street after fundraising hero Tom Gilzean reaches 3,500 signatures as funeral details announced

The petition calls for a street to be named after Tom Gilzean.

The petition was set up by the Evening News to honour the popular local figure who raised more than £1 million for charities in Edinburgh throughout his life.

SIGN THE PETITION HERETory Lothian MSP Miles Briggs has tabled a motion at the Scottish Parliament last week in support of the call.

“Tom Gilzean worked tirelessly for decades to raise money for good causes and it is right that this should be acknowledged,” said Mr Briggs.

“Naming a prominent street in the capital after this legendary fundraiser and war veteran would be an fitting way to honour this remarkable man.”

It comes as funeral details were announced for Mr Gilzean, who died on Monday November 4 aged 99.

Mr Gilzean will be buried in a tatan coffin, his son Douglas, 68 has said.

The funeral on Tuesday November 19 at St. Mary’s Cathedral at 12.45pm will be open to everyone.

"Everyone is welcome to come to all parts of his funeral as that's what he would have wanted, the more the merrier,” Douglas said.

Douglas said he ‘couldn’t believe it’ when the funeral director said he wanted to honour Mr Gilzean with a tartan coffin, because he always wore tartan trousers when fundraising.

He added: "His casket also has a big thistle at the bottom and we will drape his regiment flag across the middle but making sure his special tartan coffin can be seen.

In the 1920s and 1930s he volunteered at the Royal Infirmary Parade on Princes Street collecting donations to pay for hospitals and doctors.

Mr Gilzean, who drove with Lothian buses, served with the Royal Engineers in World War Two from 1938 to 1946.

He became the eighth recipient of the Edinburgh Award in 2015, and received an MBE in June this year after raising more than £1 million for charity.

He died in veterans' hospital Erskine House in the capital following a series of small strokes.