A CHARITY golf day in Musselburgh has raised £1,000 for Maggie’s Edinburgh, which provides support for people with cancer and their families.

Each year, players gather at Musselburgh Golf Club at Monktonhall to play for the Norrie Hosie Friday Cup.

The tournament has grown from small beginnings, when local man Norman (Norrie) Hosie Senior, from Stoneybank, began playing with friends back in the 1980s.

He donated a trophy for the match, the organisation of which has been taken over by his son Norrie Junior, from Wallyford, who has attracted sponsors for the event, which raises hundreds of pounds for charity each year, including Alzheimer Scotland, Royal Hospital for Children & Young People, and Changes, a Musselburgh-based community health project.

This year, Mr Hosie Jnr decided to donate the money to Maggie’s Edinburgh at the Western General Hospital, which helped him and his wife Shirley after her breast cancer diagnosis last November.

About 40 golfers took part in the recent competition, which was won by Alister Gray and raised £875 for the charity. Since then, more donations have been forthcoming, taking the total to £1,000.

Norman said that Shirley underwent surgery in January and, after a three-week recovery period, she started four months of chemotherapy. After another three-week break, she began a month of radiotherapy.

“This all finished in July this year and my wife still has three years of bone treatments to do, one every six months,” Norman said.

“Shirley is now recovering from it all and doing well but has a long way to go before getting the all clear. All this was done through this year’s Covid-19 pandemic and what great help and support came from the surgeons, nurses and consultants from the Western General Hospital. We can’t thank them enough.

“We were told to go to visit Maggie’s for further help and support as we started the process of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. They bent backwards to help us, offering one to one talks with us together and separately. They were so good at understanding what we were going through. We cannot praise the support specialists enough. As soon as we walked in the door of Maggie’s, we were made so welcome – it was like we had known them for years.

“I think going to Maggie’s did help face your fears. They listened to you and understood how you were feeling. They said it was normal to have bad days but not to beat yourself up when you had days like that. Maggie’s gave you that sense of understanding what you were going through. They were so helpful, it is a place to go to for support, help, understanding and calm.

“I would say to anyone going through anything similar that you go to Maggie’s for support, help and professional advice. They are so warm and welcoming to the patients and their families.”

He also thanked Musselburgh Golf Club for its organisation of the charity day and the sponsors, including Tony Rayfield, of Edinburgh Hometyre, and David McKay, from Direct Gardens.

Mark Cooper, fundraising manger at Maggie’s Edinburgh, said: “Everyone at Maggie’s is hugely appreciative to Norman and his friends for choosing to support Maggie’s Edinburgh at their annual charity golf day.

“We rely entirely on voluntary donations to operate and the demand for our services and complexity of the work we do has increase significantly over the past 18 months.”