Lydia, one of our trustees, and 16 year old Alex will be making the jump on September 27 at Strathallan airfield in Perthshire and are seeking your support for their fundraising effort.

They will freefall for about 30 seconds after jumping from the plane and Lydia said they both felt “more excited than nervous”.

Lydia is an inspiration to everyone at Cancer Support Scotland. After being diagnosed with stage two breast cancer in 2011, she had five months of chemotherapy, 28 sessions of radiotherapy and a double mastectomy which left her physically unable to continue her nursing career.

She said: “A skydive is something that I am able to do, despite being on crutches. I’ve wanted to do it since I was 16 but never got the chance as life sort of got in the way.”

Inspiration for the jump came as she and Alex were watching a skydiving scene from movie ‘Point Break’.

Chief executive Colin Graham said: “As everyone who has met her knows, Lydia is a tremendously upbeat and determined lady who is dedicated to helping others, especially those at Cancer Support Scotland.

“As well as being a trustee she’s an enthusiastic volunteer, running the lead volunteer fundraising group which raises thousands of pounds for us.”

If you would like to donate to Lydia and Alex’s fundraising page, you can do so here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserPage.action?userUrl=lydiaandalexjack&faId=609429&isTeam=true

The free festival takes place from the 14-20 September, and The Calman Cancer Support Centre will open its doors on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th September between 10am and 4pm – there will be tours of the centre every half hour.

So come by to learn about the history and architecture of our building!

Check out the official Doors Open Day site for more info:

http://glasgowdoorsopenday.com/event/calman-cancer-support-centre/

Tough Mudder is a gruelling 12 mile mud-run, laden with obstacles ranging from an almost vertical wall – named “Everest” – to an ‘electroshock therapy’ stage. The staff decided that they would embark upon the challenge as part of their general manager’s 50th birthday celebrations.

Amy McDougall, the hotel’s reservations coordinator said: “with Tough Mudder in mind, we realised that this was a perfect opportunity to raise some funds for the charity.”

The team of 13 completed the extremely demanding event and said that they chose to raise money for Cancer Support Scotland after they came by the Cancer Support Scotland Centre and were “blown away with the services on offer.”

It seems that the staff at The Pond have caught the bug now too, and say they may even take part again next year!

Amy said the experience was a rewarding one and the staff had a great laugh together on the day, adding that she enjoyed the beer at the finish line!

Cancer Support Scotland would like to thank the staff of The Pond Hotel for their outstanding efforts.

 “If the money I have raised can help other families to cope a little better, then the effort was well worth it.”

Andrew, from Newton Mearns, decided to use his fundraising to help benefit Cancer Support Scotland and managed to raise an incredible £1837. He said “as soon as I saw Cancer Support Scotland’s website I knew that they provided something that all those suffering from cancer and their families should have access to.”

This is the first time Andrew has ever done any fundraising on this scale and completed the run in an impressive 47 minutes. Overwhelmed by the response he received, Andrew said “my initial target was £500 but I soon realised that I had underestimated how generous people are.”

Andrew is already thinking ahead to his next fundraising event, saying “I would love to do more fundraising for Cancer Support Scotland in the future. Maybe running the London Marathon would persuade people to donate.”

The five apprentices, all from Glasgow, used a ‘Mad Hatter’ theme for their tea party and were delighted with the funds they managed to raise for Cancer Support Scotland.

Andrew Crosbie, from Sandyhills, said that they chose to host the event and raise money for Cancer Support Scotland because “many people within the business have been affected by cancer and we have several staff either living with the disease or with relatives affected by the disease.”

Andrew added that Cancer Support Scotland “do very good work supporting people affected by cancer and I see this first hand through a relative currently suffering from the illness who is benefiting from Cancer Support Scotland’s services.”

The SQA had been looking for ways to get apprentices working together and this was the perfect opportunity. The event allowed the apprentices to interact with members of the company that they otherwise wouldn’t get the chance to meet.

The event was a success and the SQA has agreed to consider future fundraising activities being organised by its next intake of Modern Apprentices.