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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Matt Bryan

Lanarkshire pensioner comes out of retirement to raise £1000 for Ukraine by busking

A talented pensioner has struck the right chord in entertaining Lanarkshire locals during his charity busking sessions.

Arthur McInally has been taking his guitar to the streets for the past seven weeks after deciding he wanted to raise some money to help the people of war-stricken Ukraine.

The 78-year-old from Hamilton had crowds clapping along to some classic tunes whilst even taking requests.

He raised an amazing £1000 for the cause, with the majority of the cash coming from Coatbridge locals where most of his busking took place.

But Arthur also played for audiences in East Kilbride as well as Motherwell, as he now thanks everyone who donated generously over the summer.

Arthur told Lanarkshire Live : "Before the lockdowns I used to go busking but when Covid started I decided that was me finished.

"But when I saw what was happening this year, I decided I wanted to do something to help people in Ukraine. I also do a bit of drawing and paintings so I was going to auction them off but ended up grabbing the guitar again to help out that way.

"I played over seven weekends raising £1000. It was mostly in Coatbridge but I decided to play once or twice in a couple of other places.

"I want to thank everyone who donated and gave some money."

"I wasn't playing too much of the modern stuff, but just whatever would please the punters", Arthur added.

"I've got hundreds of songs so it's usually just whatever comes into my head at the time. So I played the likes of Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, some country stuff and some Kenny Rogers."

Before stopping a couple of years ago, Arthur would busk most weeks for over 10 years.

He decided to rediscover his love for music after retiring from working at the Philips factory for a number of years.

Arthur was delighted with how much money he was able to raise and is now looking to donate the funds to the appropriate charity in the near future.

And his efforts proved popular with locals who were drawn to his music and a sign he displayed next to his microphone saying "Ex busker, out of retirement, for Ukraine."

He added: "I wanted to do this for Ukraine and try to help people there after seeing what was happening, so I'm thankful for everyone who donated some money."

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