Charity backing from Carluke bus drivers

Five bus drivers gave it their all at a charity night to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support.
Stuart's coaches drivers  David Macdonald, Robert Gray, Grant Beck, Ross Docherty and Ron Traquair with Macmillan Cancer's Angela McCormack  (Pic Emma Mitchell)Stuart's coaches drivers  David Macdonald, Robert Gray, Grant Beck, Ross Docherty and Ron Traquair with Macmillan Cancer's Angela McCormack  (Pic Emma Mitchell)
Stuart's coaches drivers David Macdonald, Robert Gray, Grant Beck, Ross Docherty and Ron Traquair with Macmillan Cancer's Angela McCormack (Pic Emma Mitchell)

And in a hall packed with Stuarts Coaches colleagues and family, they performed the Full Monty!

“It was a good night,” said Ron Traquair, organiser and one of the five stripping off.

“It was a good laugh.”

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And behind the fun was a serious purpose, to raise funds for the charity which supports those going through cancer.

Ron, whose mother was helped by the charity before her death, had been thinking of raising money for a while, and support among his colleagues grew after one of the office workers died from cancer just before Christmas. She too had been supported by Macmillan.

The others in the Full Monty routine were David Macdonald, Robert Gray, Grant Beck, and Ross Docherty. David too had help in the past from the charity and is now in remission.

“A lot of people I know have had cancer,” explained Ron. “My mum died three years ago from cancer.

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“It was way back last October I thought of the idea of the charity night and thought: ’We could do the Full Monty’ and give the money to Macmillan.

He mentioned it casually to the other drivers, and they possibly thought he was kidding, but shortly afterwards the hall was booked, and Macmillan notified.

“It was too late!” joked Ron. “They were committed.”

And they all went ahead and performed the routine on the night.

Over 100 people work with Stuarts Coaches in Carluke, and the guys sold 180 tickets for the charity night.

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Their stripping routine may have been the highlight, but there were also waxing sessions, with men lining up to have their torsos or legs waxed.

“A couple of people were saying ‘it’s too sore, too sore’, so I got my chest done, and David got his legs done as well, and as soon as we went up, other guys went up,” said Ron, although he added: “It is quite sore!”

The night also saw entertainment, and raffles and auctions, and by the end the drivers had raised £3000 to hand over to Angela McCormack at Macmillan Cancer Support,

Ron is delighted at the way it all went.

“We are going to do something every year now,” he said, adding hastily that the drivers would not be stripping off again.

“It will probably be a charity night, but we need to think of something different from that Full Monty. We can’t do that again!”