A fundraising group set up in memory of a much-loved Livingston man has been nominated for a top national award.
The Paul Lynas Memorial group have been shortlisted for a British Heart Foundation Heart Hero Award for their incredible fundraising efforts, which have seen them raised over £35,000 for the charity.
Paul sadly suffered a fatal cardiac arrest three years ago and since then his friends and family have held a number of events to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation.
Paul’s brother-in-law Ally Fleming told the Courier that he was ‘immensely proud’ that the group have made the short list.
He commented: “It was really out of the blue. Our fundraising manager Claire told us at the start of the year that she had nominated us but to find out we were shortlisted was really out of the blue.
“Everyone in the group is immensely proud to make the shortlist.
“We set up the group to honour Paul and it’s really grown to become something much bigger than we thought possible. We’ve raised over £35,000 right now and we had plans for another big year that I’m confident would have taken us above the £50,000 mark.
“Obviously with the pandemic, most things have been cancelled but we’re confident once things get back to normal we can keep going from strength to strength.
“None of this would be possible without the generosity of so many people and organisations. We’re honestly always completely bowled over by their generosity every time we do a fundraiser.”
Under normal circumstances, the group would travel to London for the awards ceremony later this year but while that’s not possible, Ally is hoping the gang can get together to celebrate the day.
And, while Covid-19 has put on hold most of the planned fundraisers for this year, the group are planning an online auction with some great prizes on offer.
Ally commented: “Things obviously haven’t gone to plan this year,both for our own fundraising group but also for British Heart Foundation.
“We had a lot of gifts already for fundraisers so we’re going to do a live online auction later this year and see if we can get some money for the charity.
“We’ve got things like golf days out at St Andrews, signed football and rugby team jerseys, a Stereophonics drum skin, there’s plenty and we’re hoping we can get things finalised soon for an online auction before hopefully getting back to normal fundraising next year.”
To find out more about the Paul Lynas Memorial group, visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/PaulLynasMemorial.
