UK360 DAY 4 : Scotland Rocks !

James Morrow: Even though we only spent 12 hours in Edinburgh I realised how gorgeous the city is. Our morning drive took us around the old town and the imposing Castle that proudly dominates the city.

We were driving from Edinburgh to Glasgow to visit The Scottish Headquarters of The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation.  A quick phone call en route from Steve to the Strathclyde Fire department allowed us to park Martha safely and also gave us the added bonus of eating our first official Fireman’s fry-up complete with a “Lorne”, basically square sausage meet and extremely tasty as we had missed breakfast again, leaving Edinburgh in a rush to avoid the traffic wardens.

The girls at the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation office had arranged for us to meet a nice chap called Robert, who is the UK’s longest survivor of Lung Cancer. It was amazingly uplifting to hear his story of success, connected with a subject that has produced so many stories of sadness.

During the meeting Roy Castle explained to us the improvements in the in the care and after care of Lung Cancer sufferers.  It seems huge strides have been made, even in the last year, in the information and support given to patients and families. It really hit home to me what this 360 tour had now become; we are not only raising awareness of FTFE in the UK, but also increasing awareness of the crew, on how the money we raise will really help to make a difference.

As if our earlier breakfast hadn’t been healthy enough, we were treated to a Scottish speciality, the deep fried Mars Bar. The small piece I ate was enough to think you needed to run a marathon to work of the infinite calories contained within it! Even Gemma with her obsession for all things sweet was only able to eat one mouthful, so the boys obligingly finished it off!

A quick cab ride back to the fire station to pick up Martha and also meet Ailsa Faraday who, with her experience of working on The BBC’s LONG WAY ROUND, has been invaluable at providing FTFE with some much needed support in planning our expedition. Ailsa, along with her sister Kirtsy and Mum Carol, were full of energy and enthusiasm, the perfect pick me up we needed for our work ahead.

The afternoon was reserved for some serious canvassing of Glasgow City centre, starting at the heart of the city, George Square. The open mouths and general startled looks on people’s faces as we positioned ourselves in square was one I’ll always remember.  The next hour was taken up hanging off Martha, with Steve and the girls, in various positions for all the local press cameras, it’s something that  I don’t think we`ll ever get used too!  Then came the hard work…

The guys from the Strathclyde Fire Brigade were amazing and came down to rattle some buckets on behalf of FTFE.  I soon realised the pulling power of real fireman as their buckets began to fill, at a pace far quicker than ours combined! So I decided to go down the “raising awareness” route of handing out our flyers to everyone in the Square, leaving the firemen to sweep up the cash from the swooning ladies of Glasgow!

Handing out flyers and general canvassing is again something very new to all of us on FTFE, but we soon got into the swing of it. Personally, the buzz you get when someone donates money to you or starts asking about FTFE, made all the effort we put in worthwhile. It didn’t matter whether donations were big or small, they all counted to keep the smiles on our faces.

After a couple of hours here, we had a three Fire Engine procession to Glasgow’s busiest shopping area, Buchannan Street, where we again managed to talk to as many people as possible passing by. The plan was simple, I went after the girls, the girls went after the men, and Steve went after the scraps and anyone else who would talk to him.

After 3 hours hard work we were rewarded with a fantastic drive to Ailsa’s parents home in Lochwinnoch.  But before heading out of Glasgow we drove Martha to Kelvinside Academy, where Steve’s Dad went to school as a wee young lad.

Arriving in Lochwinnoch, we received an amazingly warm welcome from Ailsa’s parents. In the late evening, dead on our feet we made our way to the local pub, where Steve got his wish of having a pint (actually 4) in a small pub with a dog (4 of them too) running around his feet.

It was a perfect end to one of the most rewarding days so far on the 360.

Roll on Ireland!

James[flickr album=72157623983683283 num=30 size=Square]