Heart fund's £23,000

HELENSBURGH you"re magic!

That was the ecstatic reaction after a drive to raise £9,000 to help sick children collected an amazing £23,000.

The huge grand total was revealed on Saturday night at the culmination of the Songs for Aedan Appeal in the Victoria Halls.

The drive for funds was inspired by Aedan McGinley who receives treatment for a heart condition at Yorkhill Children"s Hospital.

The fund raisers had set out just three months ago to raise £9,000 for the cardiac unit.

The committee, Aedan"s granny Joyce McGinley, Tommy Sharkey, Euan Catterson, June McMurdo, Stuart Latimer and Christine Ramsay, helped by many volunteers, organised a range of events during the course of their efforts - the culmination of which was Saturday concert and the cheque presentation.

The cheque was presented to cardiac liaison sister Sheila Smith, who was clearly overwhelmed when she realised the size of the donation.

Watched by a capacity crowd Joyce paid tribute to everyone who had helped and took the opportunity to thank the staff at Yorkhill who not only provided Aedan with the best of care but also look after his mum Mairead.

And she said: 'The whole family is so proud of Mairead who deals with all this every day. Aedan may have some problems but he is a very lucky boy because he has got the best mum in the world.'

Guests at the cheque presentation were local councillors Viv Dance and Ellen Morton.

Councillor Dance told the audience: 'This has been a real achievement for Helensburgh may be a small town but this has shown that it is really a big town with a very big heart.'

June McMurdo thanked the people of Helensburgh 'from the bottom of my heart' not just for their amazing support of the Songs for Aedan Appeal but also for their help with for the 'Support our Soldiers' campaign which she spearheaded locally.

And just before presenting the cheque committee member Tommy Sharkey said: 'We were asked to help to raise £9,000 for Yorkhill Hospital but we didn"t but we did raise £23,000. Amazing!'

And he added to enormous cheering from the gathered audience: 'Helensburgh, you"re magic!'

Sister Smith told the crowd that the donation would 'make a huge difference' to everyone at the cardiac unit and added through tears: 'All I can say is thank you so much.'

The music for the evening was provided by the fabulous bands Mama Rag, A51s and Tommy Sharkey and the Midget Millers.

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