A genuine treasure hunt will take place in Aberdeen this weekend, with a precious gem worth thousands of pounds up for grabs.
Cancer support charity Maggie’s Aberdeen will host its first-ever diamond hunt on Saturday, offering participants the chance to win a £5,000 jewel.
Hunters will each be given a scorecard with a set of clues leading to questions scattered across the city centre.
Those returned with the correct answers will be entered into a prize draw for the diamond, which has been donated by family jewellers Finnies.
The event has been organised to raise funds for the Maggie’s centre at Foresterhill, which offers free practical and emotional support for people living with cancer, as well as their family and friends.
Fundraising manager Paula Cormack said: “We’ve set up a treasure hunt with cryptic clues taking people to locations across the city centre where they will have questions to answer.
“We’ve written them so can’t search for the answers online for help, either.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun and we’re hoping this will encourage people to look at things differently that they might walk past every day without noticing.”
She added: “There are still a lot of people who don’t know about Maggie’s and what it does.
“While all the funds we will raise from the diamond hunt are really important, this will help us tell more people about the services the charity offers too.”
In addition to the top prize, Finnies is also offering 10 gift vouchers worth £100 each for the runners-up.
Dominique Dawson, a third-generation Finnie who works at the George Street shop, said: “We ae grateful to the team at Maggie’s for allowing us to help support the wonderful work it does.”
Repsol Sinopec chief product officer Drew Russell said: “We are delighted to be supporting this event so that Maggie’s can continue to provide support to people in the north-east who have been affected by cancer.”
The event will start at 10am on Saturday from the Bon Accord Centre Roof Terrace Garden.
Early bird places are available for £20 until Friday at
maggiescentres.org/diamondhunt
but sign-ups on the day, for £25, are also welcomed.