Carronshore man George is Sahara-bound on Alzheimer’s fundraiser

George Rigby (67) says the venture will see him and fellow fundraiser Bryan Hogg drive “4000 miles in an old banger”.

They hope this old Subaru Outback with 118,000 miles on the clock will take them from South Queensferry to the blistering sands of the Sahara and back.

He has raised a fortune – over £100,000 – from previous efforts, but this one is particularly special as it’s in aid of 
Alzheimer’s Research UK– and he lost both his dad and sister to the disease. It’s for this reason that he aims to make it his last big charity effort.

He has been raising money for good causes since around 1980. His fundraising efforts have seen him swimming hundreds of lengths of a pool at Sullum Voe, climbing Ben Ledi and Ben Nevis three times, and abseiling off buildings in London, as well as from the Forth Rail Bridge.

He has also taken part in the first half marathon staged in Falkirk and Grangemouth, dived with sharks at Deep Sea World, walked 100km of the Great Wall of Chima and taken part in rickshaw rallies across India and Indonesia.

His previous driving challenge – in an old banger bought for £500– saw him take part in the Rust2Rome rally.

George hopes generous Falkirk Herald readers will back this last, big adventure by sponsoring the effort via his Justgiving page, which is at https://www.justgiving.com/George-Rigby3.

He and Bryan are covering all the costs of the trip between them, and all the cash raised will go direct to Alzheimer’s Research.

The pair are already well over their original modest target and have raised £3000 to date, but given the extra-special dimension to this effort want to raise as much as possible for the charity.

Former engineer George said: “This is going to be my final big charity challenge and for that reason, I’m hoping to raise as much as possible for this very worthwhile cause.”

Founded in 1992, Alzheimer’s Research UK is the country’s leading dementia research charity.

It is dedicated to funding scientific studies to find ways to treat, cure or prevent all forms of dementia, funding 139 research projects and has committed more than £117 million to research.