Offshore workers donate £5,000 to Aberdeen charity

Generous offshore workers have donated bonus money to a north-east children’s charity.

Staff on board Fairfield Energy’s Dunlin platform were awarded a £5,000 safety bonus to mark 500 days without a lost time incident.

Instead of taking the cash for themselves, the oil workers decided to donate it to Charlie House, which supports babies, children and young people living with complex disabilities and/or life-limiting conditions.

Alan Reid, offshore installation manager at Dunlin, which lies 120 miles north-east of Shetland, said: “We had a number of nominations put forward that could benefit from our support, but we wanted to give it to a local charity in Aberdeen that meant something to the team on Dunlin, which is why we chose Charlie House.

“The support they provide makes such a difference and we are happy that we can contribute in some way.”

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The charity is currently carrying out a fundraising campaign to raise £8 million to fund a specialist-support centre, set within four acres of ground at Woodend Hospital.

Launched in November last year, its Big Build Appeal has already raised more than £2 million.

Kirsty Walker, fundraising co-ordinator at Charlie House, said: “We would like to express our gratitude to the Fairfield Energy team and Dunlin platform for choosing Charlie House as the beneficiary of their safety bonus.

“This wonderful donation will go on to support local families in the north-east of Scotland.

“It is down to the generosity of donations such as this that we are able to continue to provide our current services free of charge to families.

“This includes activity clubs, our annual family trip to Kielder Forest Park, emotional and practical support from our children, and family support manager and access to our Charlie House community nurse, who is based at Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital.”

CHARLIE House is aiming to raise £8 million for its Big Build Appeal to construct and maintain a specialist support centre. So far £2m of the funding has been secured. Visit bit.ly/2ROBktF or call 01224 313333.