Jings! Crivvens! Help ma Boab! Gillies reaches £75,000 for children's charity

Pictured (from left) are Jamie-Leigh Cook from The Archie Foundation, with Ian Philp and Ewan Philp from Gillies.

A big-hearted Broughty Ferry business is celebrating raising more than £75,000 for a local children’s charity – proving that home really is where the heart is.

Home furnishings store Gillies has raised the incredible total for The Archie Foundation since 2016, primarily through the charity’s Oor Wullie Bucket Trails as well as other fundraisers such as a Santa’s Grotto and charity ball.

The family-owned business is continuing to support the charity, which helps babies, children and their families across Tayside, as well as Aberdeen and the Highlands.

The Bucket Trails featured models of the iconic Sunday Post comic strip character in a variety of colours and designs that were displayed and later auctioned to raise funds to support paediatric healthcare across Scotland.

Ian Philp, managing director attended the first auction and subsequently bought one of the Wullie statues to feature in the Broughty Ferry store, alongside a collection bucket. A Christmas ‘Oor Wullie Reunion’, where a dozen of the statues were brought together in its window display, raised a total of almost £20,000 by the end of the year.

The firm was then approached by The Archie Foundation to help set up a local committee, raising money for twin operating theatres for the children’s hospital at Ninewells Hospital.

Ian said: “It makes me extremely proud that together with the Bucket Trails sponsors and the hard-working committee, we brought the twin operating theatres to life in 2022. We also have branches of Gillies in Aberdeen and Inverness, supporting both the children’s hospitals there."

Jamie-Leigh Cook, regional fundraising officer for Tayside, said partnerships with corporate supporters are vital to continue bringing in funds for the charity.

She said: “As a local charity, the funds that are raised go directly towards supporting babies, children and their families in the local area and helping to make stays in hospital a little easier. We’d like to thank Gillies for the ongoing support which is so vital to our work and congratulate the team on reaching the amazing milestone.”