HUNDREDS of people are ready to pull on their hats tomorrow and support our campaign to protect vulnerable elderly people this winter. The Evening News is urging people to support Age Concern's Wear a Hat Day to help buy cold alarms for the elderly in the Lothians.
Supporters will pay £1 – and wear their favourite hat – in order to back the campaign aiming to stop pensioners dying in their homes from cold-related illnesses.
All the money raised will buy alarms which warn the elderly if temperatures in their
homes are dropping to life-threatening levels. One of the main reasons for tragic winter deaths is that people often don't realise quite how cold their house has become until it is too late.
All staff at The Playhouse will be showing their support for the cause tonight by wearing hats for the performance of Mary Poppins – the show's second last night in the Capital – as well as encouraging the audience to give generously to the charity.
Assistant marketing manager Milo Spence said: "Staff will be wearing hats, including our ushers, and we will do a bucket shake at the end of the show to raise money. We all feel very passionately about this campaign and it is such an easy thing for people to do to help – wear a hat."
More than 20 organisations have officially registered for Wear A Hat Day across Edinburgh and the Lothians, ranging from schools to day care centres for the elderly. Each one will turn what is a serious issue into an entertaining day in order to help save lives.
Every year medics across the Lothians deal with devastating cases of cold-related deaths which could have been prevented if elderly people had simply been warmer.
Many pensioners are afraid to turn on their heating during the winter, fearful of the high bills they could run up.
Age Concern fundraiser Martin Munro said: "It's definitely not too late to register for tomorrow's Wear A Hat Day. People can also do the day later in the month if they would prefer. It's so easy to do."
More than £4000 was raised for Age Concern thorough last year's Wear A Hat Day, which is one of the charities smallest fundraising events. Evening News readers have already contributed hundreds of pounds to the cause by sending money to the charity after reading about its work over the last month.
Organisations preparing to wear hats tomorrow include Edinburgh East Older People's Forum, Blenham House Care Home, North Berwick Day Care, Livingston's Deans Primary School and St Thomas's Primary in Addiewell.
The full article contains 443 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
