Ian & Pat Reid from Newtonhill, celebrated their Ruby wedding anniversary on Sunday 10th April 2011. The happy couple marked this very special occassion with  a  party at The Carron restaurant in Stonehaven for friends and family.  They very kindly suggested to their guests that they may like to make a donation to Friends of ANCHOR instead of buying an anniversary gift. Their guests were most generous and donated £730 which Ian dropped off at the charity's office at Balmoral Group. 

Friends of ANCHOR would like to congratulate Ian and Pat on forty years of marriage and hope they have many, many more happy years together. We would also like to thank them and all their guests for this fantastic donation.

Pictured: Ian & Pat Reid on their wedding day on 10 April 1971

Julia Riddoch, from Udny, organised a fabulous Zumba exercise class on Saturday 16 April 2011 at the Newmachar Scout & Guide Hall. Over fifty energetic dancers came along to dance to the Latin beats and help to raise the fantastic amount of £825. Julia decided to share the money raised between Friends of ANCHOR and CLAN, and would like to thank everyone who participated in the event, including the suppliers of the delicious home bakes which everyone enjoyed after the class, Tash who took the class and her assistant Fruszi.

Friends of ANCHOR would also like to thank Julia, her family and everyone involved in the event; for their time, effort and energy and congratulations on raising such a great amount.

Julia Riddoch, in pink top (bottom right) with the instructors, her daughter and some of the participants after the Zumba class.

Margaret Finnie, Marion McIntyre, both from Crathie along with Margaret's daughter, Katrina Farquhar held a coffee morning on Saturday 9th April at the Royal Lochnagar Distillery by kind permission of owners, Diageo. Guest flocked to the centre and the grand total of £1,010.20 was raised. The ladies decided to help support two local charities, CLAN and Friends of ANCHOR so the money was shared equally, £510.10 each. This is not the first time they trio have helped support Friends of ANCHOR in the past they have donated thousands of pounds to the charity.

Friends of ANCHOR would like to thank Margaret, Marion and Katrina for all their hard work and effort this year ensuring another very successful event and thanks to everyone who came along and helped raise this fantastic amount.

Pictured: Margaret Finnie and her daughter, Katrina Farquhar with their cheque & the coffee morning in full swing.  

Michael Mitchell (12) from Ballater entered the fundraising talent show 'Ballater's Got Talent', organised by the Ballater Charitable Chiels which was held at the end of last year 2010. Michael chose to sing superstar Michael Jackson's famous hit 'Man in the moon' which wowed the audience. The competition was hotly contested with two acts in equal first place after the judges had voted so it was left to the local audience to decide and Michael was pronounced the winner. The Ballater Primary School pupil thought it would be a good idea to give his prize winning cheque of £250 to Friends of ANCHOR in loving memory of his lovely Granny who sadly passed away at the ANCHOR unit two years ago.

Friends of ANCHOR would like to thank the organisers of this special event and a huge big thank to Michael for his thoughtfulness and generosity, I'm sure his family must be extremely proud of him, well done Michael.

Pictured left to right: Fiona JD Pearson, Fundraising Manager, Ballater Charitable Chiels; John Sinclair and Barry Florence and in front Michael Mitchell with his cheque.