Last year my father, Duncan Carmichael, passed away after a long battle with cancer. The cancer began in his prostate but had already spread by the time it was discovered. While we were lucky enough to be able to care for him at home in his final days (mainly due to my mother being a retired nurse who specialised in geriatric care) the support provided by Strathcarron helped make this easier. When his illness reached the stage that he qualified for attendance allowance, Dad donated the regular payments to Strathcarron - joking that it might encourage them to try and keep him alive for longer.

As an NHS catering manager, Duncan achieved the impossible - despite constantly battling against budget cuts, he made hospital food that was actually nice to eat. So good in fact, his catering team were hired to cater for outside functions - including the wedding of one well known Scottish rugby internationalist in Melrose. 

Outside of work, he had many interests - he was a keen gardener, an excellent cook, could walk for Scotland as well as across it, and despite a seemingly serious demeanour, took great delight in causing mischief wherever he went. 

Another of his interests was cycling and in the eighties he took up the challenge of cycling from his home town Stirling, to Fort William, the home town of his mother. That's a distance of a hundred miles with some pretty daunting hills along the way. In his honour, and as a tribute to his achievement, in August this year I'm going to attempt cycling a similar distance going from Kippen, where Dad lived for his last few years, back to Selkirk, his home for thirty years. 

All money raised will help Strathcarron continue the excellent work they do caring for people and their families in their final days.