Meeting much-loved celebrities is for many is a cornerstone moment, but for one Inverurie shop owner the day meeting soap stars brought some heartbreak.
Cast members from Emmerdale were spotted all around Inverurie yesterday taking part in a charity day.
The stars spent time competing in sports events with locals and also visiting 20 nearby businesses who had raised at least £1,500 each for Urological Cancer Charity (Ucan).
Shop owner of Novello Gifts and lover of Emmerdale, Vhari Johnston, had been looking forward to The Big Bash Scotland for months.
However, after losing her gran who would have loved to be at the event a few days ago, the Inverurie resident said the day was tinged with sadness.
‘It’s actually quite heart-breaking’
Mrs Johnston, 45, has watched Emmerdale for “as long as she can remember”.
Her gran especially loved the show and was so proud of her granddaughter’s fundraising efforts.
When her gran was diagnosed with cancer just two weeks ago, her family would still keep her updated on the show.
Mrs Johnston said: “We used to phone her all the time and we used to talk about Emmerdale all the time. Even right up to the end we were talking about it.
“Obviously the last three weeks she hadn’t seen it because she’d been in hospital so I was filling her in with what’s been going on.
“Eric Pollard played by Chris Chittell from the show, he sent her a wee voice recording when she was in hospital.”
Sadly, her gran passed away a few days before the big event.
“It’s actually quite heart-breaking,” Mrs Johnston said.
“She was only given three months and she passed away in two weeks.
“She was a big Emmerdale fan. I feel like I’m doing it for her today.
“We’re actually putting all the proceeds from her funeral to Ucan as well because she was so proud of me for raising money.”
Support from local community has been ‘brilliant’
The north-east charity Ucan, focuses on helping sufferers of five urological cancers.
Office manager at the charity, Gayle Stephen, said it is events like the Inverurie charity day that help break down stigmas still surrounding some of the conditions.
She said: “As a charity we’re still relatively unknown because urology is quite specific and people don’t like to speak about it because of the type of cancers they are.
“But there’s five urological cancers. You’ve got bladder and kidney which affect male and female, and then the other three – prostate, testicular and penile – just affect males.
“Prostate is getting a lot more publicity these days but the other two, people just don’t like speaking about down there.”
Helping to raise awareness and funds, she said the event has been fantastic.
“The support that everybody’s given us has been brilliant,” she added.
“The support we’ve had from local businesses in and around Inverurie signing up to take part and the public with the sporting events, we really are so appreciative.”
GALLERY: Emmerdale stars go up against Inverurie sporting teams at Big Bash Scotland
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