| Old soldier Alexander Ramsay has lived in his council home in Kirkton for the last 61 years and has visited the Asda store in Derwent Avenue since it opened almost 30 years ago.
He is such a well-known face that store events co-ordinator Mary Robertson decided to give him £500 from a portion of cash she was awarded by Asda House for her outstanding community work.
Mary said Mr Ramsay was so grateful, he had tears in his eyes, and sang “You are my Sunshine” to her when she presented him with the cash.
“I was given £1000 and told it could be used for a staff party or good causes. I’ve been giving it away in dribs and drabs, but when I heard about Mr Ramsay, I wanted to spend the remainder on him.”
Earlier this month, Mr Ramsay, who was wounded in the Second World War and has two artificial knees and arthritis in his hips, was told by the council he did not qualify for funding due to not being sufficiently disabled and he would have to seek charitable funding to meet the £9000 cost of building work. A local charity, the Dundee Independent Living Centre in Charles Bowman Avenue, then offered to contribute up to £5000 towards the cost of the work, providing Mr Ramsay attended the centre to assess his ability to use a scooter successfully.
He has now passed his test and is attempting to raise the remaining £4000 for a ramp.
He told the Tele today, “I had two people from the council up yesterday to help assess my funding needs and hopefully they will be able to approach other charities.”
Staff at Asda Kirkton also plan to do more fundraising for Mr Ramsay. |
