After 10 years of organising hugely popular gigs in Inverurie with local band Four Way Street, and raising over £100,000 for local charities, Ian & Christine Hay, along with their friends Mike & Wendy McDonald and Eddie Burnett have marked the end of their fundraising efforts with a donation of £6,300 split between three local charities, including £2,650 to the University of Aberdeen’s cancer research.
This takes the total they’ve donated to the University’s cancer research to £14,000 over the years which has had a significant impact on the work we’ve been able to undertake as we strive to find real-world solutions that directly benefit patients through the best care and new treatments.
Four Way Street played to a packed crowd at the Hopeville Social Club on Saturday 21 March, with the gig raising a fantastic total of £6,300 distributed between the University, UCAN (prostate cancer) and Cycling Without Age Inverurie.
Ian and Christine said: “Our support of cancer research at the University has been to ensure that the money raised locally is being used locally to help research into various cancers. The cancer charities we’ve chosen to give to over the years has been influenced mainly by personal friends of ourselves and the band being affected by different cancers.
“Since Four Way Street reunited in 2009, they’ve helped raise over £100,000 for local charities by playing for free. Without this, along with the Hopeville providing the premises and the tremendous support of the local community, the totals raised over the years would not have been possible. As a fundraising team we would again like to thank everyone for their amazing generosity over the past 10 years.”
Ian and Christine’s gift has already been put to work in helping advance research into prostate cancer, through two critical projects currently being undertaken by Professor Anne Kiltie and Professor lain McEwen.
Katrina Allan, Interim Head of Philanthropy at the University, thanked the Inverurie fundraisers and said: “We want to give our deepest thanks for all the support Ian and Christine and their friends have given to the University’s cancer research over the years, which totals a fantastic £14,000. We are so grateful for their efforts and hope that they are rightly proud of what they’ve achieved for local charities striving to support the community and improve people's lives.”
