Fans of a popular west coast ceilidh band have stepped in to save the day after the group’s van and all of its instruments were stolen.
Trail West is now holding a special concert to thank the hundreds of people who have raised £11,802 to help them buy new equipment.
Most of the band’s members hail from the isle of Tiree and are now based in Glasgow, playing regular gigs all over the country.
When the island’s local doctor and avid Trail West fan John Holliday heard that they had lost their van and gear, he set up a Just Giving page to help them out.
Within hours it was flooded with donations, leaving the band “absolutely overwhelmed by the support”.
**URGENT** Our van was stolen today in Glasgow. The registration is NL11 0RJ. Please RT. pic.twitter.com/kyr0SYsRPV
— Trail West (@trailwestband) October 21, 2015
They now want to invite everyone who donated to a special gig at the Queen Margaret Union in Glasgow on January 9, where they plan to have special guest musicians.
They had hoped to send everyone who donated a ticket by e-mail, but as many did so anonymously they will operate an open door policy.
Trail West drummer Andrew Findlater said: “It was very humbling. Some were very substantial donations.
“It was brilliant. We had been given a heads up a few days before it went live. We shared it on our own Facebook went viral.
“It went up on Friday afternoon and by Friday night it had already reached the target. We were playing on Friday night but we had to stop the page taking donations on Saturday morning because we didn’t want to get more than we needed.”
Several musician friends have stepped in to loan them instruments so that they can continue to play gigs until they can replace their instruments.
Mr Findlater added: “We just wanted to thank all the people that have stepped in to help us out.”
The total worth of the van and equipment, which was stolen on October 21, was £18,000.
A fair amount of the gear was uninsured as the van was normally parked in a secure private car park.
The band was able to find £5,000 from its own savings, plus insurance from the van.