Rotary Club of Forres and Forres Fire Station raised £4000 for worthy local causes with annual Santa sleigh tour
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VOLUNTEERS are donating £4000 they raised on tour at Christmas to local worthy causes.
Rotary Club of Forres has presented £1500 to Forres Fire Station and plan to distribute the rest to children’s groups, following another successful fundraising Santa’s sleigh event in December.
Forres Rotarian and Santa’s head elf, Andy Wardley, explained £1900 of the total was actually raised during the week-long tour’s Tesco stop on Saturday, December 23.
He said: “The response was fantastic. We go out every year to bring joy to the community. It’s a great feeling to see so many happy faces waving us on.
“We no longer make door-to-door collections so we’re especially grateful to everyone that contributes.
“It’s important we re-invest the contributions locally so we’ve earmarked it for youth organisations in the area to be announced soon.”
Forres Rotary have already planned this year’s tour routes and dates to be revealed in November.
“We’ll continue with our great partnership with the crew at Forres Fire Station,” added Andy. “They’re always so supportive. A big thank you to them too!”
The Forres fire crew support Santa’s tour every year - their truck leads the Rotary’s procession including the sleigh.
Watch Commander Stuart Donald confirmed his team have split their donation between The Fire Fighters Charity, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Family Support Trust and the Keiran’s Legacy charity.
He said: “We have a Keiran’s Legacy defibrillator on the front of the station for anyone to use.
“The partnership we have with Forres Rotary for the Christmas event is a major part of our year - our engine announces Santa’s arrival.
“We also managed to send some of our team to Tesco on the Saturday event, where we chatted with the community, offering home fire safety advice and processing requests for free home safety visits.”
He added: “We really enjoy being part of the event. It’s all about the kids!”
The team at Keiran’s Legacy is delighted with the support.
A spokesperson said: “This donatiom has directly helped us save lives. These monies are equivalent to purchasing an outside cabinet for housing the defibrillator, essential in allowing access and informing the community that there is a device in situ.
“Thank you so much to everyone involved with this fundraiser we sincerely appreciate your support.”
The team at Forres Fire Station are keen for new personnel to join. Anyone interested can find details on the Scottish Fire and Rescue website (https://www.firescotland.gov.uk/) or can talk to them on Wednesdays during their training period from 6.30-9.30pm.
The station’s next planned event is the annual Mosset Burn clear up from Fleurs to the Mosset duck pond on Sunday, May 5.
