A Dinosaur bit my head. Grants Grapple with ATRT

27/09/2025

Unbelievable effort Gary!! We are all beyond proud that you are now an Ultramarathonner!! 50 gruelling miles and 13 hours through the Ochil hills, such an achievement and we cannot thank you enough for all your training, support and grit that brought you over that finishing line today - all while more than doubling your fundraising target! Undoubtedly you wouldn't have got over the line if it wasn't for your lovely wife Shonagh and your beautiful boy, again a massive thanks to Shonagh for everything leading up to today!

We have another huge Thank You to go to Maggie & Sacha at Catchfly Merchandise who designed and created Ochil Ultra Team Grant Tshirts for Gary, Shonagh and Lewis - they have such an eye for detail and spent lots of time making sure they were perfect, which I'm sure you'll agree they are! If you have a club, venue, or an idea for your own merch store have a look at www.catchflymerch.com - they will be more than happy to answer any of your questions. We will also have exciting Grant's Grapple news with Catchfly coming soon.

These posts don't allow videos so will add videos to the comments of this post of Gary coming over the finish line. Hope you get lots of well deserved rest over the next few days Gary and got the McDonald's you had been dreaming of!

Once again, Thank You for everything and WELL DONE, YOU ARE AN ULTRA RUNNER!!!

27/09/2025

An early start this morning for Gary Kane taking on the Ochil Ultra 50 miles today from Stirling to Perth! Gary & Shonagh have been special friends of Jim & Anna's for so many years, which makes it all the more special that he has chosen to raise money for Grant's Grapple, with his current total sitting at an amazing £820!

Lovely to see so many of Gary's family and friends out to cheer him over the start line at Stirling Uni this morning, but I think we can all agree who his biggest and cutest supporter is - won't be long until he's running alongside his Daddy!

We'll keep you updated on his progress over the day, and you can see Gary's fundraising efforts on his Just Giving Page https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/gary-kane-4?utm_medium=CR&utm_source=CL&fbclid=Iwb21leANEZhljbGNrA0RmDmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAAEeRgTkLY9YIY-uvi268dLhl63lBpt7xpxoETVRw-jt49ihSIHqATgnbTeD2ZA_aem_5tAkJii9p0OAHHJ_97VX7Q

15/09/2025

We are super proud of our niece Lesley-Anne and her pals, Bryony, Lisa, Adam and Nathan. These amazing young folk completed the Mighty Stroll at Edinburgh Kilt Walk yesterday to raise money for Grant's Grapple. This was all the more astonishing, considering that Lesley-Anne is due to give birth to a beautiful baby boy in less than 4 weeks!!!. You're all stars! And don't you look great in your Grant's Grapple T Shirts? So pretty in pink 💗 (Also a big shout out to Lesley-Anne's partner Charlie, who also went over the line- that's the way to do it Charlie 😅😅😅)

08/06/2025

💙🫶 THANK YOU!!🫶💙

Now that the feet are starting to recover from Glasgow Kiltwalk 2025, the totals are in! With all your amazing support and kindness, we raised an amazing £2,040 for the wonderful Team Jak who continue to be an incredible support to Jim, Anna, JJ & the family.

Well done to our Kiltwalkers - Anna, JJ, Jim, Margaret, Stewart, Allan & Maggie, who had lots of laughs along the way (often at each other's expense!), and again a huge Thank you to you all 🙏

Keep your eyes peeled for info on our next fundraiser coming soon 👀

05/04/2025

On Sunday 27th April we will once again be doing the 23 miles of the Glasgow Kiltwalk, and I'll really be hoping all my toenails survive this time!

As with last year, we will again be walking for Team Jak Foundation- Jak's Den. We will never be able to put into words how appreciated their continued support to Anna, Jim & JJ following Grant's passing has meant to us all.

JJ is also getting put to work for the fundraising action and will be taking on the Kiltwalk - he'll be walking the 3 mile "Wee Wander" alongside his amazing Mum Anna.

Our fundraising link is:
https://teamjak.enthuse.com/pf/grantsgrapple

And as always, thank you all for your unwavering support 💙💙💙

Our son Grant passed away last year, during his illness we had a huge amount of support from Team Jak and are back again this year to help fundraise for this worthy cause.

31/03/2025

Hi Everyone

I hope you're all doing well and that life is being good to you.

We wanted to post a message to say thank you so much to everyone who contacted Anna, Jim, and the rest of the family yesterday to say that you were thinking of us. As always, your thoughtfulness was much appreciated.

Yesterday, as you would expect, was a very difficult day. Not only was it the first anniversary of Wee Grant's passing, but as you all know, it was Mothering Sunday. When we first realised that Grant's anniversary fell on Mother's Day, we felt that there was a sad irony that Mother's Day should be celebrated on the very day that Anna and Jim lost one of their amazing sons😢. On reflection, though, I think it's quite fitting that these two occasions should fall on the same day this year - reflecting on not only an amazing wee boy but also his courageous and wonderful Mother- Anna. Despite going through the most harrowing time of her life, Anna, along with her exceptional husband Jim, remained strong until they said their final goodbyes to Wee Grant. 😢😢😢

This last year has been very challenging but has also been rewarding. Our fundraising was a huge success and we have not only been able to provide upwards of 50 Hickman Line Vests for the children in the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow, Schiehallion Ward, who are undergoing cancer treatment, but we are also starting to provide LIDL vouchers for parents staying in Glasgow whilst their child is being treated. Every little helps. We thank all of you kind people from the bottom of our hearts. 💕 💞 ♥️

As a family, we have tried to keep a level of normality for the sake of JJ, Evie and Annie. The Nanas, Big Da and Papa D took the kids to Haggerston Castle from Friday to Monday last week to let Anna, Jim and Maggie and Allan have some free time. We are still recovering from what was a fantastic weekend. 😅😅.

I'll leave you with some photos of the main man himself, Grant Michael Mackin, may he be resting in peace 💙💙💙

18/03/2025

Congratulations and another huge thank you to Paul Carlin who ran the Barcelona marathon on Sunday for Grant's Grapple!
Paul had an excellent time of 3hrs55m and has raised over £235! Check out the video in the comments of him still looking fresh reaching the finishing line 🏃‍♂️

Thanks again Paul for all your efforts and being the charity's first marathon runner 🙏 and thank you all for your very generous donations!

04/03/2025

Please join us in wishing a huge Good Luck to Paul Carlin, as in just 12 days he will take on the Barcelona marathon for Grant's Grapple!

We know how hard you've been training and we can't thank you enough for taking on this challenge for us!

If you would like to sponsor Paul you can do so my sending directly to the charity account:
Grant's Grapple, Bank of Scotland
Sort Code - 80-22-60
Account Number - 27062562

We're looking forward to seeing all your updates Paul, and so glad your lovely family will be there to meet you at the finish line!

05/01/2025

Happy New Year to all of you beautiful people. 💕💕💕. We honestly wish you all you wish for yourself in 2025. 💕💕

We launched Wee Grant's Charity in July 2024, three months after our beautiful boy passed away. We hoped we might be able to help a few families who have children who are being treated in the same hospital ward that Wee Grant was treated in. To say we've been overwhelmed with your response to our request for donations and raffle prizes is an understatement!!!

Grant's Christmas Raffle raised a whopping £5306.41! All of the raffle prizes were donated from very generous donors. Some of the donors donated multiple prizes. We never had to buy one single prize for the draw! Final totals have been calculated. The raffle ticket sales amounted to £3480.00. Donations solely from this fundraising drive amounted to £1826.41, which made the total raised £5306.41. Isn't that astonishing? We will definitely be able to provide families with two central line vests each, as well as a £50 food shopping voucher. We will be having our next vest making workshop on the 11th January, 2025.

Losing Grant was without doubt the worst thing that could have happened to Jim, Anna and JJ- as well as the worst thing that could have happened to us. However, along the way, we were all shown so much kindness that we will never forget.

In this world where it's easy to believe that we no longer care for each other, please always remember that people are at heart really decent, kind and caring. We will never forget you all for being there when we really needed you.

We hope you never need us in the same way, but rest assured we'll be the first to come running if ever we can help you. 💕💕💕

Bless you all ###

21/12/2024

Grants Grapple Christmas Raffle 2024

20/12/2024

GG Christmas Raffle 2024

Hi All

I hope you're all well and looking forward to Christmas.

Just a quick note to say that we hope to go live with Grant's Grapple Christmas Draw tomorrow at 4pm. Notice I've said 'hope' 😅😅. Fingers crossed we have no technical blips 🤫.

There's no doubt that the Raffle has been a huge success. I'll update you all when we do the draw tomorrow. It's all down to you amazing people who have donated money and prizes, bought and sold raffle tickets, and generally worked very hard to make this a success. This will make sure that we're financially in a position to support the children and families in Schiehallion Ward in Glasgow. Thank you all ❤️❤️

Best of luck to everyone.

Best Wishes

12/12/2024

Morning Everyone.

I hope you're all keeping warm. It's freezing here in Bannockburn. It's definitely not a day for venturing too far!

Thank you all so much for your response to Grant's Grapple's first raffle. To say it's been overwhelming is putting it mildly! As you know, the prizes that were donated were amazing!. Raffle tickets have been flying out the door raising a considerable amount of money. 💰 We've also received a number of donations to add to the funds where people have said that they don't want raffle tickets. Thanks a squillion!!

We've put a cut off date for the sale of raffle tickets to Monday 16th December to give us time to gather in all of the tickets and the money and to make sure that they're included in the draw.

We've decided that the draw will take place live on Saturday 21st December. The exact time will be notified the day before. We need to work out whether it's best to use Facebook or You Tube. We're definitely not Social Media Influencers, so the live draw could give you your Christmas entertainment, especially as myself and my Twin, Anne Mackin, will be involved. If you know us, you'll know that we're not given to allowing each other to speak without interrupting. 😬😬😬. Your patience will be tested 😅😅.

I'll be in touch again on Friday 20th regarding the timing of the draw.

In the meantime, very best wishes to you all. 💕💕