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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Nicola Garscadden

Lanarkshire Freemason zips his way to helping raise £50k for cancer charity

An East Kilbride Freemason took to the treetops to help raise a total of £50,000 for the charity Prostate Scotland.

Ronnie Fraser, 63, from Calderwood joined more than 20 Freemasons from around Scotland in Killiecrankie in Perth and Kinross recently.

An earlier charity zip slide, which was due to take place over the Clyde, was postponed due to the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Ronnie is Provincial Grand Master of Renfrewshire East, which covers 37 lodges in the west of Scotland.

The funds will go towards the Grand Lodge of Scotland’s Make It A Million campaign, which has already raised over £1m for Prostate Scotland.

Ronnie, who raised £1900 on his own, thoroughly enjoyed the thrilling adventure.

The retired Glasgow City Council employee told Lanarkshire Live : "The zip slide at Killiecrankie saw us go between the treetops and over a river.

"We were probably about 33m high at parts, with different levels. I actually don't have a great head for heights but as a Provincial Grand Master, I had to lead from the front.

"I really enjoyed it though but the hardest part was climbing the near vertical ladder to the top platform with all the safety gear on - I was fair out of puff by the time I got to the top and had to take a couple of minutes to get my breath back."

Ronnie has previously completed a zip slide and this latest fundraiser is just one of dozens upon dozens of charity events he and other freemasons have taken part in as part of the Make It A Million campaign.

He added: "This latest event was part of the bigger fundraiser headed up by the Grand Lodge of Scotland. The director of Prostate Scotland came up to Killiecrankie on the day to show his support.

"The charity are absolutely overwhelmed by the support they have received and the money raised over the last several years - in excess of £1m.

"The freemasons are a male-dominated organisation so it makes sense to team up with Prostate Scotland. As well as raising the cash, we also want to raise awareness among our members.

"The charity kindly sent us information sheets to be distributed among lodges highlighting symptoms and the importance of getting checked."

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