community catch up

One of the charities who attended Dens as part of last season's community initiatives were Tayside Children with Cancer and Leukaemia (TCCL).  This coming Saturday, they are holding a "Music for Life" concert in the Gardyne Theatre, Dundee College from 7pm.

It's an evening of blues, pop, folk and rock music featuring original and cover versions from well-known artists, performed by Eat Dr Ape, Jive Candy, Gleadhraich, Don Nicolson, Aileen Ogilvie and others.

Tickets cost £10 and are available from Dundee City Box Office (01382) 434940.

Dundee FC Supporters' Society wish TCCL all the best for this event and we hope it's well attended and raises significant funds for the charity.

For the penultimate home game of the season, Community Director Jacqui Robertson invited Maggie’s to Dens in what would be the 18th different charity to visit under the Society's Community Initiative.

Claire Heaton, the Fundraising Organiser from Maggie’s Dundee, arrived at Dens with her mum to help raise awareness for the work Maggie’s do, not just in Dundee but across the UK.  Dundee FC Supporters’ Society caught up with Claire after her visit, to see how the day went.

"Initially, this day was organised by Dundee fan Bruce Tasker, who was at Dens as part of the Movember (Prostate Cancer) campaign.  Unfortunately Bruce couldn’t make the game against Partick, and so I came along in his place.  Raising awareness for the work we do at Maggie’s was great, getting to meet the fans at Dens, and watching a football match was a bonus.

"It was a great experience to attend one of Dundee’s home matches.  The hospitality we received from all of the staff and volunteers was fantastic.  I think the day was a great success as it allowed us to raise awareness of Maggie’s within the local community.  By attending the match it gave us a great platform on which to promote Maggie’s, raising awareness that the Centre is not just for women.

"Only thirty percent of our visitors are male, and that is obviously an imbalance we would like to tackle, so to be at Dens, in what is traditionally a male dominated environment will hopefully help us achieve this.

"I obviously did not really know what to expect, but the Dundee fans were really supportive, to have some of them come up and share their own experiences, how Maggie’s had helped them out in the past was great.  It is important for people to know what Maggie’s Centres do, we are there for anyone with Cancer, or even families of people who have Cancer, and help them deal with not just the Cancer, but the other stuff, the nuts and bolts of dealing with the disease, everyone needs a bit of support now and then, and that is one of the things we aim to provide.

"I hope we have managed to encourage the fans to spread the word about Maggie’s Dundee and hope to see some of them at our upcoming events!  If anyone is interested in receiving more information about Maggie’s/would like to hold their own fundraiser/would like to come to one of our events please contact Claire Heaton on 01382496384 or by email.

For Community Director Jacqui Robertson, although circumstances dictated that familiar face Bruce Tasker could not attend, she met a new friend instead, "Bruce was very keen to help Maggie's to raise their profile at Dens and we missed him on the day, however it was lovely to meet Claire who could not have been more complimentary about how our fans responded to them and, with their visit for the Family Fun Day, it's another sign that building relationships with our local Community and places such as Maggie's has been successful."

The Society would once more like to thank Claire for taking the time to visit Dens and showcase the work done at Maggie’s Centres.  As with each and every one of the charities who have taken part in the Community Initiative, the work done by Maggie’s is magnificent, and to have them as guests for the day was an honour.