'The greatest achievement of my life at the worst time of my life'
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MACMORAY Festival organiser Andy Macdonald has described the show as the "greatest achievement of my life at the worst time of my life".
Andy's partner Sarah Elizabeth (31) suffered a severe stroke on April 5, a week and a half before the inaugural MacMoray Family Easter Festival was held at Cooper Park in Elgin.
The show, which was three years in the making for Andy, quickly became an afterthought when Sarah was rushed to Salford Royal Hospital, where she had a large blood clot removed.
Sarah, who was due to be in charge of bar staff and food vendors at the festival, has been left in a wheelchair and with limited speech and movement after the stroke, which is the second she's suffered.
Her absence meant the festival lost communication with a lot of people, resulting in them only having half the bar staff and losing touch with a number of vendors.
But Sarah insisted that the show must go on and so, with immense help from the team around Andy, 7500 people enjoyed MacMoray in glorious sunshine just 11 days after she entered hospital.
Andy said: "I'm so glad Sarah told me not to give up on MacMoray because, honestly, the festival wasn't even a thing to me when she had her stroke.
"If it wasn't for having such a good team it would have been impossible for the festival to go ahead.
"I wasn’t able to enjoy MacMoray, but I did share the day with her as much as possible. Sarah got to enjoy the music the best she could via FaceTime and we spoke frequently throughout the day.
"It was an emotional day but Sarah is my strength. I now get to see her twice a day and show her all the amazing pictures and reviews. She's so proud and pleased we were still able to pull it off."
As well as suffering two strokes, in the past Sarah has had a pacemaker put in, had open heart surgery, had a mitral valve replaced twice and had blood clots removed on several occasions.
Andy added: "Sarah is an absolute warrior and she’s only 31 years of age.
"She continues to be my rock and motivation. I will give everything I've got to get her back home and healthy. She is all that matters now. She's my priority.
"I don’t know a bigger inspiration. I’m so lucky to have her in my life. She’s the greatest person I’ve ever met. I just love her so much."
As well as his team, Andy thanked everyone who turned up on the day for being part of what he described as the best day of his professional life.
He is currently staying in Preston, Lancashire, with Sarah. They spend plenty of their time together talking about future plans for MacMoray.
"We love to talk about our future plans and plans for MacMoray," he said. "Thanks to the amazing people of Moray and further afield, we both have something great to look forward to and plan together.
"If things go to plan it will be bigger and better. Sarah thinks MacMoray will be better over two days than one. I think it would be nice for people to purchase a ticket on their preferred day or a weekend pass."
He added: "From the staff to the customers, MacMoray is a special thing that brings us all together.
"Bob Geldof even had a 10-minute chat with me and wished Sarah all the best. He told me strokes can be tough and he sends his love and prayers to Sarah. He was so nice and understanding.
"We will do all we can to make MacMoray even better.
"It was far too special to make it a one-off."
