UMBRELLA walkers in Langholm and Canonbie raised £27,000 at the annual sponsored walk in March.
This fantastic sum was made up of £14,357 raised during the walk, £10,000 from four local trusts and £2,641 through Gift Aid.
A total of 159 walkers representing 37 organisations who were supported by 2,226 sponsors took part in both communities.
Langholm Rotary Club, which organises, promotes and administers the walk, along with representatives of the trusts, presented cheques to the participating organisations in the Eskdale Hotel last Thursday.
Double
The additional funding is given by the Stevenson Trust, Arthur Bell Trust, John and Mary Elliot Memorial Trust and Bowman Little Trust, effectively doubling the sponsorship raised by each organisation.
The Rotary Club deducts five per cent of the amount raised to cover costs.
The Umbrella Walk was started in 1998 by the late Alastair Davies, that year’s community service convener. Alastair went on to become president of Langholm Rotary Club and district governor of Rotary District 1020 in 2009/10.
£151,000
The walk has been held annually since then except in 2000 and 2001 and a total of £151,000 has been raised by walkers, £82,000 donated by the trusts and another £10,000 raised by Gift Aid.
This means £243,000 has now been raised by the walk for organisations and charities in the area.
Neil Stewart, club president, also presented the young citizen of the year award to Zoe Irving.
He said: “We’ve always kept a close eye on Zoe’s achievements. She’s even spoken a couple of times at Rotary and she is back on May 30 to talk about her experience in Abu Dhabi at the Special Olympics where we all know she won gold.
“She’s not only very talented at her chosen sports of bocce and boccia but is also a very determined young woman in ensuring that, when these chances to compete at the highest level come along, she and her parents Pauline and Doug are out there raising funds to ensure she can go to these events.
“We like this self-help attitude and that is why, along the way, we have helped her in any way we can.
“It was great to get Zoe along on Thursday night under false pretences, thanks to mum Pauline.
“Zoe is a very popular recipient of this award. It’s not every day a small town like Langholm has an Olympic champion.”