A group of tractor enthusiasts who travelled the 230 miles from Turriff to Orkney have raised over £15,000 for cancer charities.
Trevor Gray, Graeme Smith, Lee Murdoch and Gary Morrison raised the cash after setting themselves the challenge earlier this year.
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The group had hoped to raise £2,000 following a family friend’s cancer diagnosis, but easily smashed their target. They money will go to the NHS Grampian endowment fund which helps with breast, bone and prostate cancer and their local Clan centre.
Trevor Gray, from Turriff, who led the project, was amazed by the figure they managed to raise.
He said: “It all came about after my friend’s daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer aged 32 so I thought I would do something.
“My initial goal was to raise £2,000 which would be £500 for each charity.
“Our final total is £15,048.08 which is way past what I ever thought it would be.
“When we came up with the idea my daughter suggested we had a tractor for each charity so that’s what we did.”
The four vehicles which range from 30 to 40-years-old set off from Turriff on August 8, two days after the annual Turriff Show.
The group, which included Mr Gray’s son Barclay and support team Neil Simpson, Neil McKenzie and Bill Smith, travelled for 15 hours over the course of two days to reach Orkney.
Along with their tractors, they attended Orkney show, bringing their fundraising campaign to their event.
The group then chugged home, delighted at the number of donations.
Mr Gray said: “Everyone has been very generous, especially at the shows – people there have been a really great support.
“To raise a figure like that for these charities is incredible.
“It doesn’t matter what type of cancer, the people at Clan really help.
“The group in Aberdeenshire are quite a supportive bunch who help people with cancer to keep active in mind and body.
“Cancer is an awful thing to think about and when people get the diagnosis it’s devastating.
“That’s where the four charities come along – they were the ones we found had helped our families and friends at some point.
“It has been a lot of organising to get to this point but everything is falling into place.”
