A charity volunteer who has dedicated more than 35 years to fundraising for Cancer Research UK has been made an MBE.
Kay MacKay, who lives in Stornoway, is chairwoman of the charity’s Isle of Lewis Local Committee.
The 76-year-old receives her honour for services to charitable fundraising.
Under her leadership the committee has increased its annual fundraising from £2,000 in the 1980s to more than £70,000 a year since 2013/14. It is thanks to her dedication and leadership that the committee’s total contribution to Cancer Research UK’s life-saving research is now in excess of £1million.
Mrs MacKay said of her honour: “I was absolutely overwhelmed and shocked, I didn’t expect it in the least.
“When I was a young student nurse there really was no cure for cancer, it was like a death sentence. I started getting interested then but didn’t become involved until 1980. That’s when I joined the isle of Lewis committee and for the last 20 years I have been chairwoman.
“I have just been really impressed with the progress that has been made in research and the wonderful treatments there are. That’s why I kept on doing it.
“We have a really good committee and part of this honour is for them.”
Thanks to her leadership and passion for the cause, the Isle of Lewis Local Committee now raises more than any other Cancer Research UK committee in Scotland.
She is the driving force behind the committee’s hugely successful fundraising activities.
As chairwoman, she has increased committee membership to 35 active and dedicated ladies who are equally passionate about raising funds for Cancer Research UK.
She dedicates most of her spare time to working on the committee’s fundraising events and drives herself and the committee to achieve more each year.