Several initiatives, including auctioning two lambs at Borderway Agri Expo 2023, saw H&H Group raise over £14,000 for the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation.
After a year’s fundraising for the motor neurone disease charity founded by former Scottish rugby international and Borders farmer, Doddie Weir, H&H Group staff presented £14,405 to the foundation.
The total included £540 raised from the auction sale of two donated Beltex X lambs at the national Agri Expo event hosted at H&H Group’s Borderway Exhibition Centre in October, where the MND Foundation was the official charity supported by auctions, donations, and catalogue sales.
A successful charity ball organised by the Durham Office H&H Land & Estates in October last year raised a further £6,357.
My Name’5 Doddie Foundation was established during his lifetime by the much-loved former Scotland lock forward and the H&H Group’s contribution will go to helping improve the lives of those affected by MND.
The foundation funds grants, giving considerable sums to the MND Association and MND Scotland to administer to individuals and families living with this disease.
One of two charities chosen by H&H Group staff for the past two years, the money contributed to this cause were raised by several individual fundraising efforts across the group’s companies through sponsored activities including a 200 Club, Dress Down Fridays and Gelt Gladiator.
For H&H Group CEO Richard Rankin presenting the cheque to My Name’5 Doddie fundraising manager, Rachel Sharp, was a special pleasure.
He said: “Doddie Weir was a towering figure in international rugby, quite literally, but he was also very much a local hero in Scotland, the Borders and the North of England where he played in the rugby premiership.
“Doddie was also brought up on a farm and farmed cattle and sheep with his wife Kathy and family in the Borders and many were sold through our St Boswells Auction Mart. So his MND Foundation has a special resonance for us as a business serving the farming and rural communities, and raising funds at Agri Expo in Doddie’s memory was especially appropriate.
“Doddie battled MND with unbelievable courage and was inspirational in raising awareness of this horrifying disease, and I thank everyone in the Group who has helped make our contribution to promoting the research and the treatment that will ultimately defeat it.”
After the presentation, Rachel Sharp also thanked the H&H Group staff for making My Name’5 Doddie Foundation their chosen charity.
She said: “This is a wonderful contribution that will help extend the work we fund in supporting research and those suffering from MND.
“Doddie Weir has planted a flag to rally round in the long battle against motor neurone disease, and the H&H Group has enabled us to fight another day.”
