Hundreds of Scotland fans packed into Bar One in Irvine for World Cup clashes with Haiti, Morocco, and Brazil, raising £3,614 for Irvine and Troon Cancer Care.
The pub in Bridgegate sold tickets at £5 per head for each group game, with proceeds going to the charity. The turnout was strong for all three matches, with 240 attending the first game, 200 for the second, and a good crowd for the Brazil match.
Charity's gratitude
Ian Lakey, chairman of Irvine Cancer Care, expressed his delight: "We have raised £3,614 from the sale of tickets and raffles on the night and this is fantastic." He highlighted the impact: "To put this into context, we pay 60p a mile to drivers. I have just been given a £1000 cheque from Irvine Incorporated Trades from their Pro am event on Sunday at Bogside. That cheque will pay 157 and a half journeys to the Beatson in Glasgow for treatment. The World Cup ticket money will fund 500 journeys but that does vary if you are going to the Jubilee and Crosshouse. We take patients all over the West of Scotland for treatment and can even go to Edinburgh."
Lakey thanked the pub for the idea: "When the pub came up with the idea of selling tickets for the Scotland game we said that was fantastic. Thanks to everyone for buying tickets, without them we wouldn’t exist as we got absolutely no funding from anyone as everyone in the organisation is a volunteer."
Pub's response
Bar One co-owner Alex Harper said: "We are really pleased with the money raised. Some of the regulars who could not make the games still donated and we had a hamper which we raffled off as well as bottles for a raffle on the night. We had been hoping for a couple of thousand but this exceeded our expectations. The money from the tickets was always going to go to charity. There was a really good atmosphere. We had 240 for the first game, 200 for the second and there was a good turnout for the Brazil game. It was a good effort by everyone on the three nights."
The fundraiser was celebrated by Bar One co-owners Alex Harper, Rosemary Reid, and Kay Johnstone, along with volunteers Wilma Fairgrieve and Sylvia Bodys.
