So they decided to cheque out of school
By Steven Bowron
WHETHER YOU loved it or loathed it, leaving school is still a bit of a wrench.
 That’s especially true for these pupils at Graysmill School in Edinburgh’s Craiglockhart, who have been there for 14 years.
Michael Singh, Kelly Ann Morrison, Lisa Sangster and Sharon Melrose all suffer from cerebral palsy and, together with pals Gary Lewis, who has a brain tumour, and Mandy Kendall, who is afflicted with arthritis, they’ve been classmates since they were three.
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Presenting the cheque to Pippa Robeson from CHAS are, front, from left — Sharon Melrose, Lisa Sangster, Kelly Ann Morrison and Michael Singh. Back — Mandy Kendall, PE teacher Ishbel Mckay, Pippa and Gary Lewis.
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After the summer break, five of the six will be heading off to pastures new at the city’s Stevenson College, while Gary will start at the Garvald Centre, an adult training facility, also in Edinburgh.
He seemed to be taking his imminent separation from the rest of his pals quite philosophically when we met up on the last day of term.
“I’ve been happy here. It’s a bit sad to be leaving, but we’ll all still see each other and it’ll be good fun to meet other people,” he said.
The chums spent their final day together at Graysmill by presenting a cheque for
£2500 to the CHAS appeal for Robin House.
They and 70 other schoolmates raised the marathon amount by both doing The Sunday Post Penny Mile Challenge and organising a sponsored swim.
“We were going to call a halt to the Penny Mile challenge at Christmas, but it just kept on going,” says PE teacher Ishbel McKay, who had organised the school’s charity appeal.
“We had big yellow buckets at the door of the school and all visitors and the drivers and escorts who bus in the children were invited to donate.
“Although initially we were just accepting 1ps and 2ps, we soon began to take silver and even got the odd £1 coin.
“We taped paper strips around the school corridors to give an indication of how far the money was stretching.
“In the end we got £989 from the Penny Mile challenge with the balance of £1511 coming from the swim.”
Someone at the school apart from the pupils has been doing their homework — headmaster Ian Elfick calculated that a column of pennies to the value of £2500 would be around a quarter of a mile high!
Accepting the cheque on behalf of the hospice, CHAS representative Pippa Robeson said, “The pupils have made a tremendous effort to raise money for Robin House.
“Thanks and congratulations.” |
You can e-mail us at:
hospice@sundaypost.com
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