The mysterious case of 70 Killie pies for Coll

We've all been there. You get off a bus in Oban, heaving a suitcase of 70 Kilmarnock pies destined for the Isle of Coll, and you need a helping hand. Step forward a mystery Oban taxi driver.

 

"I arrived in Oban last night, by bus from Ayr, transporting 70 pies for the Doddie fundraiser being held at The Island Café on Coll this Saturday," explained John Jobson, via a friend on social media. What happened next, he said, was "absolutely brilliant".

 

The fundraising afternoon at the café, which will take place from 2pm on Saturday, February 4, showing the Six Nations rugby games with pies, chips, raffle, and coin slide, is being hosted by Coll builder Tom Davis for his Doddie Aid cycle from Cardiff to Edinburgh over two days.

 

The cause is inspired by Doddie Weir, the former Scotland and British and Irish Lions rugby player, who died in November last year aged 52, after suffering from motor neurone disease (MND).

 

Doddie responded to his diagnosis in 2016 by raising millions through a charity, My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, that he set up with his wife Kathy in order to fund research into MND. Over the last five years, it has ploughed £6.5million into MND research.

 

Doddie Aid, a way to help the foundation find better treatments for MND, is a mass participation exercise event founded by former Scotland captain and British and Irish Lion, Rob Wainwright, who lives on Coll.

 

Any exercise counts, with the winning district completing the most miles by the end. Over the last two years, the event saw more than 30,000 people cover four million miles, raising over £2 million for the foundation.

 

This year's challenge lasts for six weeks from January 1. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has gathered a team of "willing/nervous" cyclists, made up of firefighters from the East and West Dunbartonshire and Argyll and Bute areas.

 

The riders, Tom Davis, Gregg Hastie, Joe McKay, Roddie Shaw, Alex Wainwright, Brian Wardle and William Wilson, aided by their support team, will set off from Wales on Thursday February 9, to take part in the Doddie Cup 555, the Cardiff to Edinburgh Cycle Ride fundraising for the foundation.

 

The cycle will be a continuous ride over 48 hours, with the cyclists grabbing precious rest in a campervan kindly donated by fellow firefighter Ian MacLennan and North Coast Campers. Already they have raised almost £7,000, via their fundraising website www.justgiving.com/team/ewdab.

 

It was the "difficult" job of Tom's colleague, labourer John Jobson, to pick up 70 Kilmarnock pies, known as 'Killie pies', and bring them to Coll for this Saturday's fundraising feast.

 

"After getting off the bus," he said, "I needed to get a taxi to my friend's, and explained that my case needed to lie flat because of the pies.

 

"The taxi driver, quite rightly, asked why I had 70 pies.

 

"I explained about the Doddie fundraiser, and when I reached my destination, the driver wouldn’t take any money from me. Instead, he told me to put the fare towards an MND charity.

 

"What a generous and kind man, and his actions are greatly appreciated by many. So thank you." The identity of the taxi driver remains a mystery.

 

Why Kilmarnock pies, we asked John. "Those are the best," he said. The pies have now arrived safely on Coll.

 

"Hopefully we will get as many people as possible coming," said Tom: "We have 70 pies."