Loyalist march in Cumbernauld for charity hailed ‘a success’ by organisers

THE Loyalist March in support of the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS) has been hailed as a success by the organisers.

In all, 14 bands took to the streets of Cumbernauld on Saturday for the parade, which left the New Town Hall at noon, and completed a circular route taking in parts of Carbrain, Seafar and Kildrum.

Although the weather was far from ideal, and eight bands from the original schedule had to pull out, Robert McRae, secretary of local flute band Heirs of Cromwell, who organised the event, was delighted.

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He said: “It went well, the bands were all good and I know from speaking to them they enjoyed themselves.

“We don’t have a total yet - we’re still collecting a lot of the CHAS tins that we had out on the day and we’ve got the raffle money to include, and one of the guys recorded it and is going to make 850 DVDs to sell, so we should have raised quite a bit of money.

“The weather wasn’t great but we still had quite a good turn out, I’m sure it would’ve been busier if the weather had been better.”

Mr McRae says the group hope the charity march can happen every year in Cumbernauld.

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He added: “We’re going to be looking at it being an annual thing. CHAS is a charity that is close to a lot of the members’ hearts, including mine.

“My cousin lost his wee eight-year-old girl and she was cared for by CHAS, the work they do is tremendous.”

A spokesperson for Cumbernauld Police confirmed there were no issues.

She said: “It went fine, there was absolutely no trouble on the day.”