Tain mother's pride as daughter is honoured
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AN Easter Ross community left a local mum "overwhelmed" with its big-hearted response to a poignant fundraiser honouring her daughter’s last wishes.
Sadie McGougan (73), from Tain, more than doubled the target she had set herself to raise for Marie Curie, whose nurses helped support her late husband, Malcolm, through his final months suffering from cancer.
She had planned the event with her daughter Caroline but was then dealt a tragic blow. Caroline, a former RAF servicewoman, herself succumbed to an aggressive form of the disease last year.
One of her last wishes expressed to her mum was that the charity sale and raffle in Tain’s Duthac Centre would go ahead as planned. In the event, it raised almost £2200.
"I was just overwhelmed by the number of people coming in," said Sadie.
"I thought if I could clear £1000 I would be doing well and would be quite happy, but to see how successful it has been, and to know how helpful the money will be, has just been fantastic."
A former care worker, Sadie, who has survived a heart attack and stroke, also had the support of colleagues at the local health centre where she is a volunteer.
"I cannot thank everyone enough," she said.
"Marie Curie was such a help in looking after Malcolm before he died and it was so important to Caroline that we did what we could to help them in his memory.
"Just a couple of days before she died she turned to me and said, ‘You know that fundraiser?’ and I said ‘Yes’. She said, ‘Well you’re doing it’ and that was that.
"She had been in the RAF for 27 years and could take orders as well as give them. When she said it was happening it was happening.
"It’s a lovely tribute to her how well it went."
