Talented staff at Thorntons are tuning up for a special musical performance in an attempt to raise more than £11,000 for Maggie's Cancer Care centres.
Musical partners and associates at Tayside's largest legal firm will pick up their fiddles, guitars and trombones at The Friary in Dundee on Friday (25 April) to boost the charity cash pot in the run-up to the Maggie's Monster Bike and Hike Challenge.
Four of the superfit solicitors from the band will then join other big-hearted staff from Thorntons to pedal 30-miles followed by a 43-mile hike along the Great Glen Way between Fort William and Inverness on 3 May.
Last year the firm raised £11,000 for the cancer care centres and with a number of events in the pipeline from coffee mornings to baking sales they hope to beat last year's impressive total.
Thorntons' nine-piece band, Unlimited, had originally formed only to play a one-off gig for a staff Christmas party, but they were so well-received that they are still going strong five years on.
Unlimited is made up of partners Derek Reid on bass guitar, Gordon McBean on guitar, Gillian Buchanan on violin, Craig Nicol on accordion and vocals, guitarist Ken Thomson, Liz Plath on keyboard and vocals and associates Chris Lindley on trombone and Margaret Allan on vocals.
The Thorntons team that will join 1,000 other participants on 3 May is made up of Craig Nicol, Mark McLaughlin, Sandy McDonald, Ken Thomson, Lesley Larg, Roddy Maxwell, Lindsey Carroll, Kenneth Hill, Ian Davidson, David Rose, Fiona Massie, Derek Reid, Pam Kelly, Gordon McBean and Amanda Wilson.They will also be joined by family and friends.
Mark McLaughlin, who completed last year's Bike & Hike, said: "A big part of the motivation for volunteeringlast year was to do with the challenge of the event, and the sense of achievement in completing it.
"Meeting and talking to so many people from all walks of life that were participating in and supporting the event was both unforgettable and humbling.
"The money and awareness raised for Maggie's Centres through an event such as thisiscrucial tohelp them keepdelivering and continuing to deliver theinvaluable service it does in treating and supportingall thoseaffected by cancer - what's afew blisters?"
Valerie Busher, community fundraiser at Maggie's Dundee, added: "I am delighted to see Thornton's taking part again this year as their fundraising is very important to Maggie's here in Dundee.
"We are a wholly charitable funded organisation and without the support of the local community we would struggle to provide the service we do.
I wish them all the very best, both with their fundraising and for success on the day."
For more information at the challenge and to support the team go to:
http://www.justgiving.com/thorntonsmonsterchallenge2008.
Issued by Beattie Communications on behalf of Thorntons Solicitors.
Contact: Kimberley Hamilton, Tel 01698 787878