The Sandpiper Trust

This is a wonderful event set in the magical grounds of Dunecht House. Twenty teams of five people compete for the "The Sandpiper Challenge Trophy" by testing their skills on the Golf course, Claypigeon shooting and fishing . The event starts in the morning , with a break for lunch .

A Champagne Reception, Dinner and Entertainment follows. Tickets for this are £70 each . There are still some available. It you are interested please contact Claire Maitland Tel 01330844606.

Open Auction and Silent Auction - See below information to read about the exceptional auction items available. These are not to be missed.

Auction items include: Holidays ~ Golf ~ VIP day at Perth Races ~ City breaks ~ A night at the opera ~ Fishing & Field Sports ~ Hotel stays ~ Paintings ~ Cookery courses ~ Jewellery ~ many more ~ download pdfs below for full listings

The recently publication of "The Swallow, The Owl and The Sandpiper" an anthology of poetry , inspirationally compiled by Claire Maitland, has been an outstanding success. This book is available on line from this website. It can also be bought in W.H.Smiths although the stock may be getting low. There are also a few other points of collection and it would therefore be worth sending us an email if you are requiring a few and we might be able to make arrange for you to collect them from somewhere nearby.

Dr. Angus Cooper is an A & E consultant in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. He is hugely supportive of the trust and is running a series of remote and rural races to raise money for The Sandpiper Trust. Read below for more information with regard to their challenge.

"So far our list of races includes: Inverness half marathon, Balmoral 10k, Dunecht Dash (with the children), Baker Hughes 10k, Isle of Skye half marathon, Isle of Harris half marathon, Kirkwall half marathon. We chose these races to reflect the spirit of Sandpiper. Thanks for visiting our fundraising page. Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It's also the most efficient way to sponsor us. The Sandpiper Trust gets your money faster and, if you're a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation. So please sponsor us now! " http://www.justgiving.com/angusandcarol

Jemima Reid did a sponsored Monro climb during the Easter Holidays and raised £500 for the trust. Thank you very much Mima.

Fettes College raised £1400 in the retiring collection of their Christmas Carol Concert last December. Anna Maitland a senior pupil at Fettes College (whose cousin the Sandpiper Trust was set up in memory of) handed the cheque over to Gavin Hastings on behalf of the College. We are extremely grateful to Fettes College for their continued support.

Thank you to Jak Kennedy and friends. They recently drove accross Africa and chose The Sandpiper Trust along with 'Send a Cow' , 'Frank Water Projects' and Cameroon Wildlife Foundation to be their chosen charities. Jak very kindly presented the trust with a cheque for £1600. We are all in awe of their adventures .

Woodlane Craft , Doune, Perthshire, present Kevin McCluskie with his new Sandpiper Bag. This wonderful shop in Doune (beautiful clothes, fashion accessories and gifts) held 2 fashion shows in their shop last year and are supporting the Trust again this year. Our thanks goes to all of you who put on this wonderful fashion show.

At the beginning of November the Sandpiper trust agreed to dispatch a further 20 bags as well as supplying a further training manequin to BASICS SCOTLAND. They have also agreed to fund more vehicle locators bringing the total number of locators up to 35.

Aly and Penny Dickson delivered a bag to Nurse Beth Campbell. Beth has taken on the lease of Corrour Station Hotel. The hotel is very close to Loch Ossian youth Hostel. She is not unknown to The Sandpiper Trust as she was a nurse on the Island of Lismore before starting this new adventure. Many hillwalkers and cyclists pass through this remote place over the summer and she is pleased to have her bag in order to help when she can.

St Modoc's summer BBQ was held at Lanrick and funds raised were donated to the trust. It was an absolutely beautiful evening with at least 100 people making the most of the weather.

£100 was received from Alan Brownie as a result of the money raised fron the Vintage Agricultural working weekend wich took place in May at BA Stores Dunecht, Aberdeenshire

The very generous and original donation was given to the Sandpiper trust ,of a stud fee resulted in the birth of 5 gorgeous golden working cocker pups in May The mother of the pups belongs to The Maitland Family and the Sire belongs to Steve and Ane Armstrong of Catering fame, Kemnay, Aberdeenshire. The pups are all thriving and are off to great homes.

Jack Brisbane and his friend peddles their go carts all the way around Loch Katrine and ran people over in the car park persuading them to part with money for the trust. Well done. We look forward to some photos.

Woodlane Craft in Doune, Perthshire held a series Fashion Shows over 3 days,in their shop in Doune. It was a great success.Sugar and Spice supplied delicious canopies throught the three days and a total of £1000 was raised for the trust.It has been decided to use this money for a local Sandpiper bag which will be presented to Nurse Kevin McCluskie who lives in Aberfoyle and works in A & E at Stirling Royal.

I have taken on the updating and general maintenance of our website. I hope you will witness slow improvements over the coming year. I would however like to point out that my spelling is dreadful so please feel free to send me emails correcting it.

If there is anything you would like to to change, add or take away please let me know. If you have any relevant photos please send them and I will paste them into the photo pages.

Cara and Anna Maitland joined Scotland Rugby Squad players Chris Paterson, Nathan Hines and Jason White at Murrayfield, during a training session, to promote the Sandpiper Cookery Book. The photograph is courtesy of Scottish Rugby SWPix

THE SANDPIPER COOKBOOK….not just another charity cookbook £10 + P&P ( £4.99 for two books)

With a forward by Gavin Hastings, Patron of the Sandpiper Trust, it contains recipes from renowned chefs such as Gordon Ramsay and Nick Nairn, Scottish Rugby Legends such as Rob Wainwright and Kenny Logan, together with present Scottish Rugby Internationals Chris Paterson, Sean Lamont and Jason White. Also included are recipes from doctors working in remote parts of Scotland who have been provided with vital emergency Sandpiper equipment.

Full of delicious recipes, together with life-saving medical information and every day tips both serious and amusing dotted throughout the book, The Sandpiper cookbook is sure to be a No 1 best seller for students,friends, wives, husbands(!) and those living life in the fast lane.

PLEASE HELP SAVE A LIFE….IT COULD BE YOURS

Available by cheque payable to The Sandpiper Trust for £10 (plus £4.99 p&p for up to 2 books in one envelope). Send to The Sandpiper Trust, The Broich, Doune, Perthshire, FK16 6HJ.

Our thanks to those who braved the darkest, wettest day of the year to come along to a Christmas Fair at Woodend House, Banchory, home of the McHardy Family.

Adonation of £1300 was raised at the door and included the generosity of the stallholders, Nici Black of Edenwood Interiors, Caroline Hoyer-Miller of Twice, Sassy Kelly wtih Cath Collins and Joanna Hone with Silvermin.

The day also coincided with the unveiling of the Sandpiper Cookbook and not a soul left the house without at least one book.

Radio Scotland , Out of Doors with Mark Stevens interviewed Chris Tiso and Aly and Penny Dickson about there involvement in The Sandpiper Trust and the newly designed Sandpiper Bag. Mark also interview Dr. Fitzsimmon of Tain with regard to the work of the Trust and the importance of the "Basics training programme"

Many local papers, over the past few days, have written articles about the Sandpiper Cookbook. The Stirling Observer, The Press and Journal are two of them. Well done Claire Maitland and her very hard working team of elves.

Fettes, Loretto and Lathallan Schools have been huge supporters of the Sandpiper Trust over the past few year and the sales of the cookery book is no exception - they are flying out the door. Thank you all for your support. Hopefully the students are reading them with a view to helping out with the catering over the Christmas holidays!

On 16th November Tiso Stores, outdoor specialists made a presentation to the trust. They have been working on a new design for the Sandpiper Bag for the past year. They felt that our original bag was combersome and difficult to carry. A few doctors and nurses might agree with them. Chris Tiso felt certain they could design a bag that would hold just as much as the original bag but take up less room and be alot easier to carry. They have certainly achieved this. The new bag is very special and we are exremely grateful to the Tiso design team and to Brian Carlin from Basics (Scotland) for having put so much thought and care into the bag.

The Scottish Property Industry Festival of Christmas, known as Spifox is an organization that supports children's charities. Last Christmas they held a carol service in St Cuthbert’s Church at which Gavin Hastings and Simon Dickson, Sandy’s elder brother, both read lessons. This was followed by a most impressive lunch for 800 guests held in the wonderful new Edinburgh International Conference Centre where a cheque for £30,000 was presented to the Trust for the provision of paediatric kits for all new and existing Sandpiper Bags. This most generous donations has enabled the Trust and their medical advisers to fill an important gap in the level of equipment and will greatly help with the emergency treatment of children.

In April 2005 the students from St Andrew’s University held a magnificent fashion show in the St Andrew’s Bay Hotel for over 700 people. Generously sponsored by TISO the event was a match for any Paris catwalk with exotic and imaginative outfits from a range of exciting new fashion houses. From the noise level generated by the energetic spectators the evening was voted an overwhelming success. Both the Sandpiper Trust and the Fergus MacLay Leukaemia Foundation each received a magnificent cheque for £5,000 as the chosen charities of the Committee, some of whom where at school with Sandy Dickson and Fergus MacLay.

The Sandpiper Challenge 2006(a competition of golf and clay pigeon shooting) was held at Dunecht House in Aberdeenshire, by kind permission of The Hon Charles Pearson, in June. 20 teams took part, demonstrating a remarkable range of-or in some cases a remarkable lack of - skills. Also attending for the day was the life-size training mannequin that Sandpiper have just donated to BASICS Scotland.

Gavin Hastings presented the prizes, and numbers swelled to 250 for a champagne reception, dinner and auction in the evening. The team from BASICS SCOTLAND demonstrated their emergency procedures and the use of the Sandpiper bag, with a staged car accident.

During dinner, some astounding magic was performed followed by a very successful auction with some extremely generously donated prizes.

Enormous thanks go to the Dunecht Committee who tirelessly sought to achieve perfection. Robin and Claire Maitland, Joanna Aberdeen, Miranda McHardy, David Strang Steel, Sandy Manson, Kate Robertson, Richard and Virginia Fyffe and the Master of Ceremonies Alexander Aberdeen. Their reward was blue sky, happy and contented guests and lots of fun. The auction was a resounding success masterfuly led by Andrew Dingwall-Fordyce. Even the sale of Sandpiper merchandise flurished under the smiling faces of Alfie and Mrs Robb. By the end of the night the Sandpiper Challenge 2006 had raised the remarkable sum of £107,000 for the Trust to help inprove immediate care in Scotland. Thank you all for you support.

Special thanks to our sponsors Strutt and Parker, Johnson Carmichael and the Bank of Scotland

Blessed with fine weather 360 guests were entertained to a magnificent champagne reception and lunch followed by a fashion show in a marquee, bedecked with flowers, down by the river Teith at Lanrick. 3 collections were presented including talented Val Gray from Callander with her exclusive “Desirables” collection . Over 50 people, all volunteers and friends of the Dickson family, helped organize the day, which included the delicious lunch, prepared by Emily Dickson and Tania Dixon. The event raised an incredible £16,500 f or the Sandpiper Trust.

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