LOCAL farmer, Donald Kent, has added another £1,000 to Marjorie Sleigh's pot of gold which has gone to aid leukaemia research, and more precisely, to the Paul O'Gorman Leukaemia Research Centre in Glasgow.
The total raised by Marjorie to date amounts to a staggering sum - around £95,000. Having lost a sister to breast cancer, Mr Kent has donated a further £1,000 to the Oldmeldrum branch of Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
This might not have happened, h
ad it not been for a chance birthday surprise. Mr Kent said: "I had said that I didn't want any fuss made on my 70th birthday on January 9, as I was due to fly out to Munich the next day with my niece and nephew. As soon as I was out of the way, e-mails began to fly backwards and forwards.
"After I came back from Munich, a friend of mine, Norman Hepburn invited me to accompany him on a business trip to Inverness. I was picked up at 9.30am and as soon as I was away the action started in preparation for my birthday surprise."
Mr Kent continued: "Val Morrison, from Kemnay, did the catering with stovies and there was plenty of champagne. Ian Davidson (Mossey) who is an expert on the barbecue cooked a pig. The band, which came from Kemnay, was called 'Happy Feet' and there was dancing till the small hours.
"Val suggested that we put a bucket round. Guests were very generous and we collected around £1500. I wanted to donate to Marjorie's cause, Paul O'Gorman Leukaemia Research, but as I lost a sister to breast cancer, I wanted to donate to breast cancer research too."
Having made up the total amount raised to £2,000, Mr Kent split the proceeds evenly between the two charities.
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