Fab five raise £10k after ‘ram-page’

FIVE friends who walked from Kelso to Moffat at the weekend have raised over £10,000 in memory of their good friend.
Andrew Marchant, alongside Alisdair Davidson, Scott Dempster, Mark Stewart, and Iain Dick made the 54-mile trek from Kelso showground to the Moffat ram statue whilst hauling a sheep sculpture.
The fantastic five decided to raise money for Blood Cancer UK in memory of their good friend Alan Kennedy, who lost his six-year battle with cancer last year.
The group have known each other since they were young farmers, and set out to give their friend a fitting tribute.
Their journey lovingly dubbed the ‘ram-page’ had them walking along the A708, taking them past St Mary’s Loch and the Grey Mare’s Tail with the statue on a cart, with two people pushing and one person pulling wearing a harness.
Although the group had worries about their fitness levels going in they received plenty of support and encouragement along the way.
Iain said: “We managed to do 32 miles on the first day, we kept each other going so we were pretty pleased.We slept in sheep trailers over night before carrying on the next day to do 22 miles and reaching Moffat by 3 pm on Sunday.
“The support along the way was fantastic, people were waving from passing cars, beeping horns and some even stopped and handed us money for the fundraiser.
“It was a really nice scenic route and it meant a lot to all of us doing it for Alan and for Susan his wife, the fact that we’ve managed to raise almost £11,000 is an added bonus.
“We thought £5000 would be a perfectly respectable amount but it’s kept growing and we’re so thankful to everyone who donated.
“We’ve come back with sore legs, feet and some blisters but it was all worth it.”