On Saturday 27th Feb, Celtic were at home once again and that meant walk 15 of the season had to be completed. I was joined by my cousin John Haughey and his lifelong friend, Gerry McGinn. John and Gerry have been friends for over 40 years and through John, I was introduced to Gerry and am also fortunate enough to class him as a friend.

As you will see from the pictures of our journey, we were joined by my dad, Brian Snr, for his 5th walk of the season and Gerry also brought along his dog, Caley, a Scottish Deerhound. Caley certainly found the 8.9 miles easier than John and Gerry.

John, who owns Bailleston Motor Engineers, set the early pace with my dad, reminiscing about old family gatherings and sharing stories of their uncle Pat. Pat sounded like quite a character but sadly I can’t publish any of the stories they told me about him.

Gerry, Caley and I formed the second group, as per current restrictions, and thankfully our stories weren’t as eventful. Gerry also runs his own successful business, GMG Contractors, so we discussed work, the impact of the pandemic and the amazing work the Hospice does. For obvious reasons this season, we decided to stay away from discussing the football.

As has been the norm for most of the walks this season, the weather was good to us and it stayed dry for the 2 hours 39 minutes we were out. I must really thank John and Gerry for joining me, between them they raised an amazing £3,800. This has helped smash through my initial target of £10,000 with several walks still to go. I am truly humbled and so grateful to each individual and company who have donated so far. Thank you.