Milton rallies around women's tribute to brave sister

A PAIR of charitable Ross-shire sisters have held their most successful fundraiser yet as a tribute to their sister who died of lung cancer earlier this year.

Wilma Wilson and Sally Williams from Milton have raised about £2,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support over the past five years by serving up cakes and soup during a fundraiser held as part the charity’s annual world’s biggest coffee morning event.

They held the first event five years ago in memory of Sally’s late husband Billy MacLeod who died of bone cancer and ever since then their fundraising total has risen year on year.

This year they decided to hold the event in the Mercat Centre last Friday in memory of their sister Irene Gowrie who passed away in February of lung cancer at the age of 67.

Irene, a great-grandmother, was born in Dingwall and lived in Perth. She had been a nurse before she got married and brought up two sons and a daughter.

Her sisters Wilma and Sally did her proud by raising in excess of £700 during the coffee morning which was attended by 100 people and included a tombola, a bric-a-brac stall, a raffle and a cake stall.

The biggest moneyspinner was a sponsored leg wax by brave volunteers James Samson from Milton and Donald Miller from Durness.

Wilma said this year’s event was the best yet as £700 was their highest ever figure and Sally’s famous soup was sold out in half an hour. Local ladies had donated so many cakes to serve with the coffee that they had to have a stall to sell them all.

“It was a great day on Friday, fantastic. It was just good fun, I think even the boys had fun through the pain,” said Wilma.

“Everyone in Milton is so generous, not least to Macmillan Nurses. I can’t thank them enough, as every penny counts.”

Referring to her sister Irene, Wilma said: “She really loved life. This is our fifth coffee morning and she was always came up for it.”