Veteran journalist Kate Adie has pledged to boost the Pluscarden Abbey Appeal by speaking at a fundraising dinner.
The former war reporter and radio presenter is the special guest at the first of a series of events held in London designed to raise money for the appeal.
Her talk will reflect how women’s lives have changed over the last century including insights into her own phenomenal life.
Pluscarden Abbey, near Elgin, is a historic monastery that houses a community of Catholic Benedictine monks and is the only medieval British monastery still being used for its original purpose.
The Pluscarden Abbey Appeal aims to raise £1.8million to construct a new wing, called the South Range, that will provide accommodation for carers and women on retreat and will be free of charge, no matter what faith.
Harry Bucknall, who helped to organise the dinner and is a patron of the Pluscarden 1230 Pilgrimage, believes the event promotes the abbey cause well.
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He said: “This year, much of the fundraising focus takes place north of the border, but during autumn and winter, a series of dinners are being held in London, which, given the South Range’s focus on female accommodation and facilities, will champion equality, femininity and women’s rights.”
Ms Adie became well-known for her courage under fire and shot to fame after reporting live on the London Iranian Embassy siege in 1980, where she performed an unscripted news broadcast while crouched behind a car door.
In 1988, she covered the Lockerbie Bombing and was awarded a CBE in this year’s Birthday Honours.
The Pluscarden Abbey Appeal will see the medieval monastery’s south range rebuilt in the same style as the rest of the building, with slate roof, stone walls and carved masonry details.
They also want to make the monastic library available to the public.
The London dinners are just the latest efforts by monks and patrons of Pluscarden Abbey to raise funds for the appeal, with a “weekend pilgrimage” between Grantown and Pluscarden in August also undertaken for the cause.