Although my first Scotland game was in 1998, I didn’t start going on a regular basis until I joined the then Scotland Travel Club in 2002. After a year of home games, I made the trip to Germany in 2003, which is when I became hooked and have only missed a handful of games since.

Going to games over the years I became aware of the work that the Sunshine Appeal did, mainly through the merchandise they sold (I’ve dished out a fair few ‘I’ve met the Tartan Army’ badges across the world) and also reading stuff initially on the Tartan Army Message Board and then latterly social media.

In 2012 I wanted to help raise some funds and ran the original marathon route from Marathon to Athens raising around £250.

Over the next few years, I would occasionally see stories about donations and would maintain a stash of badges to hand out on future travels.

As I’d been taking my bagpipes to games for a while, in 2017 I was asked if I would come along and pipe at the donation in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It was an amazing experience to be welcomed by so many staff and children from the charity, all keen to show us around their facility, have pictures with us and a shot of the pipes.

I didn’t participate in another donation until 2021 in the Faroe Islands, although I’m sure I would have had there not been so many missed games during the covid pandemic.

The charity in the Faroes, Javni, provides support for children who are intellectually disabled. The donation was carried out at a play park that had been built for the children, which I believe had been partly funded by the money we were donating.
Things were running a little behind schedule, and I ended up piping to provide some entertainment along with fellow Scotland fan, David MacPhee on his drum. David however was quickly relieved of his duties by one of the kids Javni supports. It was a brilliant moment to see the excitement on his face drumming along. If you were there and that moment didn’t make your heart melt, you really are made of stone!

Since that donation in the Faroes Islands, I’ve been at pretty much every donation to provide some traditional Scottish entertainment with my bagpipes, which normally gets a great reaction. Thankfully they obviously don’t know what it’s meant to sound like!

In 2024, I was invited onto the Sunshine Appeal steering group, which I was honoured to accept and have enjoyed seeing how things work behind the scenes raising funds, locating and selecting recipients and setting up donation events and will hopefully be involved with many more in the future.