CLYDEBANK’S St Margaret of Scotland Hospice has received a welcome cash boost of £700 from St John Scotland Dunbartonshire.

A cheque was sent to the Whitecrook facility by Dunbartonshire chairman Colonel John Kelly as due to the coronavirus pandemic it was not possible to present the cheque in person.

The Dunbartonshire branch has been a long-time financial supporter of the East Barns Street Hospice, and the latest donation brought the total given in recent years to some £7,700.

Other beneficiaries receiving cheques for £700 from the 2019-20 fund-raising by St John Scotland Dunbartonshire are the Arrochar Mountain Rescue Team, the Luss-based Loch Lomond Rescue Boat, and the Vale of Leven Hospital’s Acorn Centre one-stop shop for children with multiple health issues.

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The hospice is a recognised charity and offers compassion, dedicated commitment and excellent care to patients with advanced life-limiting illness and also to the older person with complex medical and nursing needs.

The Order in Scotland supports medical and rescue charities, and is closely associated with mountain rescue, palliative care, patient transport and the provision of defibrillators and CPR training.

It paid for the construction of bases for the mountain rescue teams at Arrochar and Drymen, and was the major donor for the Luss rescue boat, which was named St John in recognition of the charity’s generosity.

The Order ranks in precedence immediately after the Order of the British Empire.

Its Sovereign Head is Her Majesty the Queen, who sanctions all admissions to and promotions within the Order.