Johnstone family doing Beatson charity walk for ninth time in memory of dad

Felicity Gillespie, 44, has done the Beatson's 'Off the Beatson Track' walk every year since her dad Brian McLaughlin asked the family to take part back in 2014 on his 70th birthday. 

Brian passed away in 2015 after a battle with lung cancer. 

Felicity, from Brookfield in Johnstone, said: “Back in 2014 our dad was diagnosed with lung cancer and one of his wishes was that we take part in the walk just to give back to The Beatson for the care that he received during his treatment and right up until his end of life. 

“Giving back and giving your time to charity is really rewarding as well, so it makes you feel really good and hopefully it makes our dad proud that we’re doing that and continue to do it to this day as a family. 

“I just love leading up to it and spending time as a family and raising funds for the Beatson because they really did do a wonderful job looking after our dad and caring for him and gave us extra time with him.” 

Kaelyn Gillespie, Grace Gillespie, Mark Gillespie, Felicity Gillespie, Yvie Gillespie - dogs: Molly and Bonnie

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After raising £10,000 in the first walk and £34,000 to date, Felicity will be joined by over 30 family members from Paisley, Hamilton, Blantyre and Johnstone in the first live walk since before the pandemic. 

One of them is her brother Stephen McLaughlin.

Stephen McLaughlin, his wife Amanda and their dog Buddy

He said: “As a family we’re spread all over Scotland so we only ever get together at birthdays or weddings so it’s another opportunity for us to get together and remember my dad. 

“We have nieces, nephews, cousins, aunties – every generation of our family comes along.

"We’ve got 20 nieces and nephews now so there’s lots of kids and there’s lots of dogs, so it really is a great family day for it. 

“Lots of people who do the walk have their own personal reasons for doing it. You see some heartbreaking stories when you’re walking about but it’s the sense of pride that everybody has, the determination that they have to do the walk, and it’s just a real sense of community. 

“You’re there with people who are going through the same thing as you or have been through the same thing as you, and I think it’s just part of the healing process as well where you just feel a bit of community with the people that do the walk.” 

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Over 11,000 participants in Glasgow have taken part in the 10k over the years, walking a total of 70,000 miles.

STV’s Laura Boyd and BBC’s David Farrell will be hosting the live event, which returns on Sunday, August 28 after two years of virtual walks. 

Family dogs Bonnie, Molly, Roxy and Cyrus

The event will start at the Riverside Museum in Glasgow, going past the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre on Great Western Road, via Kelvingrove Museum and back to the Riverside Museum.

Participants will receive a free t-shirt for signing up and a medal at the end of the walk. 

Maisie McCormick, community fundraising manager at Beatson Cancer Charity, said: “We’re delighted to finally be able to host our first live Off the Beatson Track event since 2019. 

“We’re so grateful to everyone who took part in the virtual walks over the last two years, but we can’t wait to see a sea of yellow take to the streets of Glasgow once again. 

“Every single person who signs up is allowing us to support more cancer patients and their families over the years to come, and we cannot thank you enough for that.” 

To sign up click here.