The friends of tragic Edinburgh schoolboy Andrew MacKinnon have raised over £1,000 to pay for a memorial in his memory.
Jamie Brodie, 38, from Sighthill, coached Andrew during his time playing for Salvesen’s 2007 team. His son had played alongside him and Jamie's family, along with the local community, were devastated by the loss of Andrew who died from a heart failure while playing football close to Forrester High School on Tuesday March 14.
A number of Andrew’s friends joined former valet Jamie and a host of local businesses to undertake a mass car wash at Gate 55 in Sighthill on Sunday March 25. Throughout the day they managed to raise £1,150 and also encouraged famous Edinburgh chef Tom Kitchen to donate £200 to the GoFundMe page set up after Andrew’s death.
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Andrew’s friends are understood to be considering purchasing a memorial bench to remember him by. Any remaining funds from their monumental effort of washing 76 cars will be donated to his family.
Jamie, who runs a wheelie bin cleaning business, said: “I’m absolutely proud as punch of what all these young boys have done today considering what they are going through, if you see any of them give them a pat on the back, really incredible.
“The boys also managed to have a wee water fight and it was good to see them all together.
Thanks to every single person that turned up to get their car cleaned, everyone is extremely grateful and hopefully the boys have done a good job of your car!!
“We raised £1,150 in cash on the day and Tom Kitchin put £200 into the GoFundMe and others have contacted us who couldn’t make the car wash asking for the link as well. We got a mention on Forth 1 as well which was nice as folk came after they heard it on the radio.
“All the boys were absolutely brilliant, all done exceptionally well, and worked hard. We had all four seasons out there yesterday, some sun and even some snow at some points too.
“Hopefully the boys can get some kind of memorial bench or something similar so they can all get to remember Andrew and somewhere they can go when they are thinking about him.
“We had folk handing in cakes and krispies, juice, sweets, tea and coffee from neighbours to Gate 55. Absolutely amazing. The whole community has really got behind the boys and of course for Andrew.
“I have to give an extra special mention to J's Valeting. He postponed his whole working day today to come along and help out.
“He was only coming to help for a bit but when he saw how busy it was he wasn’t leaving us. He stayed with us meaning we had an extra cleaning station, without him we couldn’t have got all the cars cleaned.
“There are so many other people to thank and I am so grateful for everyone that helped out.”
Members of the community and Andrew's friends and family have also managed to raise over £30,000 to honour Andrew. Emergency services had rushed to the Forrester High School grounds shortly after 3pm on Tuesday 14 but were unable to save the Jambo daft teenager.
Andrew’s dad had described his son as a "really popular boy" who loved his friends and playing football. Andrew leaves behind sister Aimee, 20, sister Rachel, 17, mum Janine Dow, 48, and dad Andrew MacKinnon, 40, as well as stepdad Gary Weir, 55.
Andrew’s funeral will take place this week on Friday March 31. Those wishing to show their support for the GoFundMe set up in his honour, can click here.
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