Over the space of 2 month’s since my good friend Tam Johnston put the idea across to me after listening to Real Radio, and following various links on their on the internet. Tam approached me to see if I fancied putting on a charity show in aid of this cause. At first I was in two minds about it as had heard nothing about the cause “500 Miles for Ciara”.

After doing some research around the internet I came across various information about this and been a father myself I could see why Warrant Officer Mac McGearey deterrent to win this fight for his   daughter and how he could go about raising funds to keep her in Royal Blind School and fight to win his case against Edinburgh council. With the election due to be on May the 4^th or 5^th this is your chance to support Mac’s case and show them that the big wage earners of the Councils have nothing over the support of local caring general public.

During the 2 months I have been watching Mac’s progress in his walk across Scotland on the internet, radio and TV in Aid of his daughter and the more the idea of the charity night came to the forefront. We contacted PoppyScotland and got permission to go ahead with the event after Mac’s approval. Within a few days we had the first few bands in place for the event and more and more coming forward to help support the cause “500 miles for Ciara”

During this time Tam also suggested that he would do a sponsor haircut, in aid of the event. With a raffle on the night for a chance to win the chance to cut Tam’s hair. There will be sponsorship forms on the night and also through our selves and Tam in hope to raise £500 for the cut.

The event will take place from 1pm on Sunday 2^nd May 2010 in Rockers in Glasgow. The event will see a host of original artists / bands and also rock covers band supporting “500 Miles for Ciara music event”,

Bands and Artists on the line up for the event are as follows

Big Black Taxi
Charger
Bad Motor Scooter
We Are Jawbone
Ruff Diamondz
Storm in a D Cup
Dougie Greig
Messiah
Chain
Craig Hughs
Outsider
Search For Solace

The night will finish off with Decadence DJ’s playing Classic Rock from past till present into the small hours.

Tickets for the event are on sale and we urge people to buy in advance and support the cause. Tickets are priced at £5 each for the event starting from 1pm till 3am.

More details on the cause are below along with online donation and Ticketweb link.

Details of the Fund Raising Event and who we are hoping to help.

WO1 Mac McGearey is serving with 1 RTR. His daughter, Ciara, desperately needs specialist care, but the family been shafted by Edinburgh Council who are taking them to court.

When Ciara was 3 days old, she contracted meningitis, leaving her blind, unable to speak and suffering from a number of other disabilities. Since she was 6 months old, she's been receiving specialist treatment from the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh.

However, Mac was posted to England and she obviously had to move schools. Ciara went to a non-specialist school and didn't receive the level of care she needed, so when an opportunity came up for an Edinburgh posting, Mac took it and moved his family back. However, the council refused to fund her place at the Royal Blind School and instead offered a place at another non-specialist school.

An independent tribunal concluded unanimously that the Royal Blind School was Ciara's best option, and that had Mac not been in the Army, she would still be attending. They then ordered that Edinburgh Council make funding available immediately.

Rather than comply, Edinburgh council elected to take the case to court at a cost of up to £160,000 in legal fees (Ciara's education at the RBS would be approx. £38k per year).

Mac's walking 500 miles to raise the money needed to keep Ciara in school until the court case.

If you can spare even a couple of quid, please make a donation or sponsor Mac's walk. The appeal is being run by the Scottish Poppy Appeal, and there's more info - pics and the story in Mac's own words - on the links.

http://www.poppyscotland.org.uk/ciara/

http://www.scottishmusicnetwork.co.uk/main.html

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/If-city-won39t-pay-Ciara39s.6026356.jp

Online Donation at http://my.artezglobal.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=307052

Ticketweb Online tickets

http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_scotland&query=detail&event=379122&interface=