A comedic solicitor is delivering a daily dose of Doric to raise hundreds of pounds for charity.
Aberdonian Craig Pike will be performing songs, poems and comedy sketches throughout February and posting them to Facebook while raising funds for Alzheimer Scotland.
Mr Pike, who is also a member of the Flying Pigs, said he was raising money for a charity which is close to his heart both personally and professionally as he exceeded his £500 target within just a day of the JustGiving page going live.
From Doric to Dundonian: Listen to the different dialects of Scotland
Last night he said he was “flabbergasted” by people’s support.
The 43-year-old said: “Since last March people all over the world have been fundraising for various causes in many different ways.
“Alzheimer’s is an illness that has affected both mine and my wife’s side of the family, watching how people can suffer from the condition made me want to help however I could.
“Working as a solicitor I have a lot of elderly clients who need my help to sort out their affairs, trying to help people who have just been diagnosed and witnessing the journey they have.
“You can see the impact it can have on them as a person and their family and I wanted to help out.
“Another part of this is the effect that coronavirus has had on people, many have seen their condition worsen and have found it particularly challenging to cope.”
As a member of the Flying Pigs comedy sketch team, many of his performances will draw from the north-east, paying homage to the region.
Missing the thrill of performing to a live audience and with his love of humour, he was motivated to start this charitable campaign.
He added: “Not all of the pieces will be funny, I hope some of them will be poignant and thoughtful.
“Doric is one of those languages that is so expressive and if we don’t take the opportunity to use it we could lose it.
“So many of the words just don’t have an English equivalent and it is great to have the opportunity to share that with people.”
With the freedom to perform whatever he wants, viewers can expect a series of songs, poetry, local tales and comedy sketches, adding: “I really wanted to do a different kind of fundraiser and thus far I have been flabbergasted by the response, the natural thing to do is now aim to raise £1,000 but if we can do even more it would be brilliant.
“Most of the stuff that I plan on doing throughout the month will be very local and I might have a Flying Pigs sketch in there at some point.”
Flanked by piano music and dressed up in a three piece suit, he opened the month’s daily dose of Doric with a rendition of a song by the Granite City’s own Harry Gordon- telling the story fictional village, Inversnecky.
He followed it up yesterday with a one of his favourite poems by Flora Garry, called The Pricee o’ Bress, viewers were impressed by the retelling about a Buchan wife who fussed over her brass-ware.
At the end of last year the comedy group had been using their talents to produce some comedy sketches helping NHS Grampian promote coronavirus updates.
