Inverurie Rotary Club has raised £1,000 for war-torn Ukraine after a musical tour around the north-east.
Members of the club’s Glee group spread delight around 10 care homes from Portsoy, to Huntly, and down to Kingswells to raise the cash.
The Glee group, which has seven members, decided to raise the money for Ukraine after a presentation on the war from Erik Avetisov.
Mr Avetisov moved from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv to Methlick with his family and started attending meetings at the Ythan Valley Rotary Club in Aberdeenshire last year.
He has since been rallying support for Ukraine around the north-east.
‘We just wanted to help’
Howard Hughes, from Kemnay, is one of organisers of the Glee group within the Rotary Club and was moved when he saw Mr Avetisovs’ presentation.
The 79-year-old said: “He did a presentation to us with pictures. It would have made anyone emotional.
“When we saw what was happening over there we just wanted to help.
“The money goes straight to the Rotary Club Kharkiv International so it is great.”
Fundraiser helped ‘cheer up folk’
The fundraiser was designed to coincide with this year’s Eurovision song contest, which will be hosted in the UK as last year’s winners Ukraine were unable to host safely.
It will be taking place on May 13 in the Liverpool Arena after Aberdeen’s P&J Live narrowly missed the shortlist in August.
Mr Hughes said: “We don’t claim to be Eurovisioners, we are kind of past it now, but if there was a senior Eurovision contest I think we would be candidates.
“We cheer up a lot of these old folk. We are good at that. We are good at doing stuff old people relate too, we are not terribly modern.
“When you go to a lot of these old folks homes you realise how lucky you are are.”
Inverurie Rotary Club history of fundraising
The Glee Club have been playing music and singing to entertain senior citizen groups and care homes for over twenty years.
Its youngest member is 78 and its oldest is 87.
Members of the club include Beechgrove gardener star Jim McColl, and George Ross, founder of the well-known bakery business and king of the buttery.
The group has a long history of fundraising and donating to Aberdeenshire communities.
In December, they resurrected a 15-year-old tradition and threw a huge Christmas party at Inverurie Hospital.
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