A Barrhead man has raised money for Paisley's respected Accord Hospice by jumping out of an aeroplane.
Alastair Crae was one of a number of brave people from Renfrewshire and further afield who signed up this year for a tandem skydive in support of the Hawkhead charity.
He did the skydive on Saturday, July 16 and has raised an incredible total of more than £2,100 so far.
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Alastair, 60, is the director of Finance and Governance at Accord, said: “It was my 60th birthday, we can call it a special birthday, and I felt that, at that age, I didn’t really need any presents.
“I knew Accord was organising a skydive as part of its fundraising for the year and I thought it was an ideal opportunity to put the two together and ask family and friends to donate instead of me getting presents.”
Alastair is no newcomer to doing things that many would rather avoid. He explained: "These kinds of things tend not to faze me. I enjoy a bit of a challenge.
I had already done a couple of events for Accord including an abseil from the Finnieston Crane and a zip-wire across the Clyde - so this was the next step up from these events.
“The whole experience of diving out of a small plane from 10,000ft in the air was great and I’d certainly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t thought about it before.
“It was a bit unfortunate that it started to rain just as I jumped but that didn’t spoil things too much. I was well supported on the ground by several family members including my mum and dad.
“On behalf of Accord I’d also like to thank the other people who have completed the skydive so far and have all raised significant sums of money for us.”
David McFadden, fundraising and communications manager at Accord, said: “‘A huge thank you to Alastair and each of our Skydivers who took part in the event, an incredible feat achieved by each of them.
“A phenomenal effort to support those in our care – each pound raised goes to help patients and their families at some of the most difficult times – without your donations we simply couldn’t provide the best possible care to the community, free of charge.
“Thank you to everyone who took part or donated.’’
The donations are for the ACCORD hospice which provides support for those needing palliative and end of life care in Renfrewshire and parts of East Renfrewshire.
If you would like to donate money for ACCORD, you can still visit Alastair’s JustGiving page to make a donation here: https://bit.ly/3Sgs2qi
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