Xmas Raffle
During a visit to his local kennels last October, Harry Pearson met up with Alan Reardon, the proprietor of Allers Farm Kennels, near Blantyre. Alan had previously shown great interest in The Mark Wright Project and now wished to fundraise for the charity. He donated a Gallon Sized Bottle of Whisky and set up a Xmas Raffle in his premises. One of his customers also donated a bottle of Malt Whisky as second prize. The draw was made on 22nd December, 2009, by Stuart Pearson, on leave from 3 Para. The prize winners were Mr Shields and Mr Callender, both of East Kilbride.The total raised for our charity was £600 – a splendid effort – thanks to Alan, the Reardon family and their customers.

James Gillespie School – Youth Philanthropic Initiative
6th Year pupils at James Gillespie High School have been taking part in the Youth Philanthropic Initiative which aims to involve young people in citizenship issues and local charity work. A group of young people from the school chose The Mark Wright Project. They spent months researching the charity, speaking to almost everyone involved and creating a presentation on the work of the charity. The group were required to present to a panel of judges and convince them that our charity was deserving of recognition. They worked extremely hard, putting their heart and souls into it and along with 15 other groups made their presentation on Thursday, 14th January. The Mark Wright Project Group were successful and earned a £3000 prize to be donated to our charity. Jem and Nancy were moved to tears on the presentation night having witnessed their excellent presentation. The cheque will be presented at a future date and, hopefully, we should have some photographs for our next edition.

Lasswade High School – Fundraising venture
On the run up to Christmas, the pupils of Lasswade High School raised funds for the Mark Wright Project. Our thanks to them all for their efforts and a wonderful donation to our project of £1350.

Our photograph shows 6th Year pupils Amy, Debbie and Samantha presenting their cheque to Jem Wright at our drop in centre.

BUPA Edinburgh Great Winter Run
This 5km run took place at Holyrood Park on 9th January and preceded the Great Edinburgh International Cross Country.

Representing The Mark Wright Project were Charlotte Fox from Edinburgh. See Charlotte's JustGiving page at www.justgiving.com/Charlotte-Fox

and Steve Waterston, alias The Mad Army Chef see Steve's JustGiving page at www.justgiving.com/steven-waterston .

Many thanks to both for their fine efforts on our behalf. Thanks also to Gordon Fraser for the photograph.

Mount Aspiring Climb
The attempt on Mount Aspiring in New Zealand which was to take place over 5 days in early January by Scott Stephen , Stuart MacKintosh and David Sparks had to be postponed. Scott reported his disappointment that 1.5m of snow in mid summer prevented their venture taking place – because of avalanche risk! Climate change or what? He looks forward to getting time off from work to resume the challenge in February and our best wishes go with him and his companions.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Coming up on 14th February is The Greater Love Concert at Glasgow City Halls. Refer to our home page and the link for details.

Jane Nash, an international highly qualified and experienced NLP Master Practitioner, Clinical Hypnotherapist and Forensic Hypnotist is delivering a series of workshops between 9th and 13th February, 2010, at our drop in centre. As places are limited, book now to avoid disappointment. See the link on our home page.

Right- Steve Waterston in full flight at the BUPA run