Ellon Bowlathon boost for north-east cancer charity
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North-east bowlers have rallied round in support of a recent 24 fundraiser held at Ellon Bowling Club in aid of cancer support charity CLAN.
The 24 hour Bowlathon started at 7pm on Friday night and ran through to 7pm the following day.
Originally planned for before lockdown, the event was held in support of well known Ellon bowler Mike Stephen who had originally been diagnosed with cancer back in 2018.
As Mike explained: "Back in 2018 I was diagnosed with cancer and underwent six month of chemotherapy, which all went fine and then started further preventative treatment, but that stopped during the start of lockdown due to Covid restrictions, before eventually restarting.
"In 2019 two friends of mine Shirley and Alistair Campbell were celebrating 30 things for their 30th anniversary and one of the ideas was a 24 hour bowlathon.
"We decided that it could be reinstigated and last year, with the help of Ellon Bowling Club got the ball rolling again, with the event taking place last Friday."
He continued: "We played as a team of 14 against over 120 competitors over 48 sessions, with two games per hour,"
Mike bowled the first bowl at the chime of the Victoria clock on the stroke of 7pm and bang on 24 hours later after on the stroke of 7pm Mike rolled the last bowl.
Thansk to the support of donations along with raffles and an auction, a justgiving page which had been running at £14,000 before the event kicked off was boosted to over £22,000 which will be donated to CLAN.
Ruth McIntosh, Clan Cancer Support’s charity development manager, said: “This is an amazing donation and a fantastic example of the commitment, creativity and passion within our communities who go above and beyond to raise money for Clan Cancer Support to ensure our vital services can continue.
“We would like to sincerely thank the event organisers and all those who took part in raising such a significant amount which will help us continue to support local people who are affected by a cancer diagnosis.”
In other news: CLAN's Big Hop Trail comes to the north-east.
