By Jack Aitchison

A SUMMER of activities for the Accord Hospice in Paisley have been hailed a success raising thousands of pounds.

Whether it was the Summer Fayre, Pooches in the Park or the Rainbow Ramble, locals came out in force for the charity with around £60,000 being raised.

Events organiser Julieann McHale, said: "We've had a number of really successful events in terms of support, funds raised for the charity and getting word into the community about the hospice once again.

"The Summer Fayre raised about £20,000 including from our sponsors which was great. We changed some of the stalls this year and introduced a kids activities room with the character Elsa which went down a storm."

The event, that took place on May 21 in Paisley Town Hall, was backed by MPs Mhairi Black and Gavin Newlands.

Julieann added: "When Mhairi was first put into her post one of the first events she attended was our Summer Fayre, so it was really good to see her come back. She gives us a lot of support, as do other local MPs and MSPs.”

Following on from the event, the charity introduced a Rainbow Ramble, which was dubbed as a 'colour run for all abilities'.

Participants young and old signed up for the event in June, which involved walking or running five kilometres starting and finishing at the hospice covered in various colours - raising around £10,000.

Similarly the Pooches in the Park event, now in its tenth year, was deemed as a big success for all those involved, despite having a lower turnout than previous years.

Another £27,000 was also raised by a group of trekkers who took on the “Freedom Trail” over the Pyrenees mountains in France and Spain. The group tackled the 80 kilometre trek over the mountains at the end of July.

“Overall our events have been really successful. We've enjoyed the events that we've put on, the participation has been great and people really seemed to get into them,” Julieann said.

“The feedback we have been getting is to do the events again and that makes us really happy to hear. We're providing lots of enjoyment while raising much needed funds for the hospice, so it's great.”

The charity are now set to host an art exhibition at the Anchor Mill Atrium on September 2, as well as ladies night and afternoon tea in the coming months.