More than £1,000 has been raised for this year’s Poppyscotland appeal – thanks to people staying at home.
Thousands of people have enjoyed Castle Douglas entertainer Raymond McQuarrie’s series of online home-a-thon discos over the last few weekends.
He decided to raise money for the appeal after hearing from Eric Montgomery at Monty’s Bar who would normally lead the Remembrance Sunday parade but couldn’t due to the coronavirus restrictions.
And they have been left blown away by the generosity of people.
Raymond said: “We’ve raised over £1,100. About £500 were donations put through the door at Monty’s and about £400 was through Facebook.
“The British Legion were overwhelmed. It’s created a real feel-good factor about the town amid the doom and gloom. At the weekend there were more than 1,000 people watching over the two nights.”
Raymond is well known as a top Elvis impersonator and added to the appeal fund by taking part in a sponsored zipslide during Laggan Outdoor’s final day of operation.
While the event’s support for Poppyscotland may be over, the home-a-thons will continue.
Raymond, who is a constable with the Metropolitan Police, added: “I’ll keep on doing the home-a-thon while we’re in lockdown and we have coronavirus.
“I get a lot of private messages from folk saying they look forward to it.”
Anyone who wants to join in should search for Rocking Raymondo on Facebook for details. The home-a-thons are at 8pm on Saturday nights with a country music night at 7pm on Sundays.
