Scottish footballing legend Ally McCoist has joined a group of pub managers and representatives from Variety, the Children’s Charity to present East Kilbride Community Trust with a very special present – a brand new Variety Sunshine Coach.
McCoist, a long-standing supporter of the children’s charity presented the keys to the coach to Monique McAdams, Chief Executive of East Kilbride Community Trust.
The coach is one seven being donated to schools and children’s organisations around the UK by Stonegate Pub Company following a five month charity fundraising campaign for Variety, the Children’s Charity. All 614 Stonegate pubs took part in Britain’s Biggest Pub Tour, the most ambitious fundraising campaign ever carried out by pubs before, raising a staggering £312,000.
Joining Ally and Monique at the presentation were Julie Lodge, Andy McBride and Lee Woolley from Stonegate Pub Company, operators of eleven businesses in Glasgow including The Old Smiddy, Yates’s, Home, The Ark and The Merchant.
The Trust supports over 200 children with various disabilities including autism, learning disabilities, Aspergers, visual impairment and Epilepsy. Over the past two years they have run various allotment and football projects allowing the children to experience outdoor activities, promote community development and improve social inclusion in East Kilbride, regardless of ability, age, social or economic circumstances.
Speaking about the new coach, CEO of East Kilbride Community Trust, Monique McAdams said, “The East Kilbride Community Trust is over the moon at receiving this fantastic coach from Variety and Stonegate Pub Company. It will enable us to help more people in East Kilbride and widen the scope of the projects that we run for the enjoyment and well being of the community”
The donation was made possible through the fundraising efforts of Britain’s Biggest Pub Tour. A giant pledge passport was passed from pub to pub travelling 5,555 miles and involving all 12,000 Stonegate Pub Company employees. The original fundraising target of £100,000 was smashed within weeks of the summer long tour, eventually becoming biggest single fundraising event ever for the charity.
Variety Chief Barker, Trevor Green, said: “The achievements of Stonegate Pub Company and its customers has been nothing short of phenomenal. We are truly grateful on behalf of the many youngsters and their families who will benefit from their fundraising. Britain’s Biggest Pub Tour has been the single biggest fundraising challenge ever undertaken for Variety, the Children’s Charity and has meant that we can provide seven specially adapted Variety Sunshine Coaches to schools and community groups in the UK as well as fund life-changing equipment for many more children and young people.”