About 6 years ago I suffered a heart attack including a rupture of the left ventricle.   This was repaired but within a few days a muscle operating my mitral valve ceased to work properly and a second open heart operation was necessary to replace the valve.   Thanks to the skill of my surgeon and very much against the odds I survived both emergency operations.   With much support from my family I slowly regained a good degree of health and have been able to live a pretty normal life.

As a native Borderer who has lived in Aberdeenshire for over 40 years and brought up a family there, I became conscious that none of my family really knew very much about the Borders.  In that situation I sought to set up a family holiday in the Borders so I could impart to them some of my knowledge and love of the Border country.   What could be better than to walk from Melrose through the Borders to Holy Island in the footsteps of St Cuthbert along St Cuthbert’s Way and so it was arranged that the whole family (bar those abroad) would walk the historic route together over a summer week in July when hopefully the countryside would be at its best.

We thought it would be nice if we could celebrate the fact that my health is good enough (I hope) to undertake this walk and use the walk as a vehicle to raise money to support the Chest Heart and Stroke Association who do so much good work among those suffering from Heart Attacks and Strokes.

Thank you so much for your generosity.