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Kevin and his kayak help raise £11,000 for Bellrock Close

Army Veteran and former SVR resident Kevin McLeod and two friends have raised more than £11,000 for the charity’s Glasgow residence Bellrock Close, smashing their expected total of £1000.

Kevin, who served in the Black Watch – Now 3rd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS), launched a summer challenge to raise funds for the Scottish Veterans Residences and undertook gruelling 39-mile kayak route from the east to west of Scotland.

Turning to creative fundraising methods, Kevin then hosted an online event on social media where donors from all over the world tuned into a live stream and donated money for Kevin to drop eggs, flour, milk and beans onto his head!

Inspired by Kevin’s activities, his friends decided to get in on the act. Alastair Blair, whose brother served in the Parachute Regiment, and Derek Spiers, whose grandfather served in WW2, walked the Union Canal, a distance of 55m over three days - quite the achievement for Alastair, who is 77 years old. Admirable Alastair is no stranger to fundraising - he ran the first ever Glasgow Marathon for charity in 1985 and has been raising funds for good causes ever since.

The trio were welcomed to Bellrock Close to present a cheque for their fantastic final fundraising tally of £11,483. Residents were joined by SVR’S Head of External Relations Colin Leslie and Bellrock Deputy manager Suzanne Duffy to say a big thank you. The donation will directly pay for equipment and activities for Veterans using the Glasgow service. 

Kevin said: “We are so grateful to everyone who donated. We hoped to raise £1,000, but the total has been so generous. I was once a resident at SVR and I know how important the charity is to turn around the lives of former military personnel.”

Colin Leslie said: “SVR are humbled by the generosity shown by these three inspirational fundraisers. They have gone above and beyond to help support the activities of Veterans at our charity’s Glasgow residence, Bellrock Close. The charity would like to thank them for their outstanding efforts and to all who supported their series of challenges this summer.”

• Our thanks to Murray Kerr for the photographs