Stewart’s ‘Trade Up’ challenge for MND

Stewart Strachan, a 34-year-old planning engineer from Kilsyth, is setting out to trade his way up from a simple guitar pick to a full guitar, which he hopes to auction for the charity MND Scotland.

 

Stewart, who is married to Carrie (35) and father of three young boys Rudy (6), Koby (3) and Mylo (1) decided to support the charity after losing his grandmother to motor neurone disease (MND) in 2009, just three months after her diagnosis.

 

MND is a rapidly progressing terminal illness, which stops signals from the brain reaching the muscles. This may cause someone to lose the ability to walk, talk, eat, drink or breathe unaided.

 

Stewart, who has raised over a thousand pounds for the charity, has previously taken on endurance races to support the charity. This time he’s taking on a challenge of a completely different nature.

 

Stewart said: “It’s a couple of years since I last did some fundraising and now that things are starting to return to some sort of normality, I wanted to do something this summer.

“But with the boys still being so young and still having to work from home because of the pandemic, I am struggling to find the time and energy required to train for another endurance race.

“So, whilst looking for inspiration elsewhere, I came across a video on social media of a girl who was attempting to turn a kirby grip into a house through up trading on Facebook marketplace. The enormity of the challenge intrigued me, and I thought that I could try something similar and find a way to raise money in doing so.

“So, from this I came up with the idea of attempting to turn a guitar pick into a guitar, and the resulting guitar, when I eventually get there, will be auctioned or raffled off with all proceeds going to MND Scotland.

“In the last week or so I have set up an Instagram page to document the journey, and I have made a start with the trading. So far, I have managed to trade the guitar pick for a single coil guitar pickup with a lovely guy from Leeds, and also have the next two trades lined up for as soon as I receive the pickup in the post.”

 

If you would like to help Stewart with his trade-up challenge for MND Scotland, please visit his Instagram page.

 

Iain McWhirter, Head of Fundraising at MND Scotland, said: I’d like to thank Stewart for taking on this unique challenge for MND Scotland.

 

“This year MND Scotland is celebrating 40 years of fighting back against motor neurone disease. From humble beginnings in a living room in 1981, to a national charity providing life-changing services and powering vital research, we’ve come a long way because of people like Stewart. I’m wishing him all the best for his challenge and we’ll be cheering him on every step of the way.”

 

You can also donate directly to MND Scotland at www.mndscotland.org.uk.

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