2017 is the 175th Anniversary of Cadenhead’s – Scotland’s oldest independent bottler established 1842 by William Cadenhead.

To mark this great event we in London have decided to start the year with a raffle to raise fund’s for the Samaritans who offer vital support to people of all ages who feel under pressure with life in general. We all know things can and do happen that challenge us in various aspects of life, for some the events can lead to devastating consequences.

The idea for this event came about a few months ago after a young person stepped in-front of a train I was traveling on coming back to London.

A number of things happened after the tragedy, firstly some people who had little or no sympathy called the victim selfish and a coward! This shocked me deeply as they and indeed I had no knowledge of this person or what they went through. To offer an ill judged opinion was, I felt, disgusting and deeply wrong. Thankfully most felt concern for the family who must now cope with the consequences of the afternoons events

Talking to one mother who was having to deal with her children, she talked about her own younger sister who also decided to end her life.

As we chatted I recalled my own cousin who tried so many times to take his life, eventually doing so. We all felt confused and guilty because we kept thinking why did we not do more, what else could we or should we have done? The more I talked to others the more I discovered the terrible tole of so many young lives lost in much the same way, friends and family left confused or feeling a deep guilt because they felt they let the person down.

The pressure people feel can at times be overwhelming, especially if you are under economic pressure or struggling to cope with life in general, there is also the new problems around social media and the young. How many times have we seen the wholesale dismissal of young people in the media ignoring the fact that most young people today are far more advanced than in my youth or the youth of the reporters and political class who ignore their plight or dismiss concerns taking away hope they will be listened to!
Lets not forget the pressure young people face from education, endless exams and testing as well as the issue of debt if they want to go to university, or if they choose to look for work then its another issue with housing costs!

Of course the issues we all face, young or old, need to be addressed, anyone of us could find we are feeling desperate, lonely or finding it hard to cope. So many things can and will happen of course but we just don’t know if one of those events is enough for us to feel the need to end things.

So what can we do?

1. Ignore it or as some say forget it as it’s too difficult a subject to deal with! Or assume it will never happen to us or our loved ones.
2. Try in some small way to help give as many people as possible the road to the valuable support they might need via people like the Samaritans who never judge they just help.

Why are we doing this fundraiser?

Sometimes we can surrounded by friends and family but we might also feel isolated in some way, a kind of disconnect if you like. The fear that those we are closest to will feel hurt or be less than understanding. The voice of someone not connected to us can do far more to help us move forward with some hope.

Over 590 young people between 10 & 24 years old took their lives in the UK in 2014 alone, can we simply ignore this or should we do our small part to help the Samaritans? Without the work and support of the Samaritans the situation would be far worse.

The Draw

We have a series of bottles in the raffle ranging in prices from £50 to several £100’s, the prize is growing so much so we will be drawing a bottle and then the winner for that vintage. It will be done using prizes numbered from 1 to say 10, we wont know what prize is in each carton as these will be packed and numbered by customers not staff members weeks before the draw in mid March 2017.

Tickets will be available online from today until March 15th. The draw will take place on Tuesday 21st of March 2017 at around 5:45PM until the last prize is drawn we hope by 7:00PM. The winning order/raffle number’s will be drawn by an independent person/s. We will call or email the winners as soon as the draw is done.

Price for each ticket is £5.50 with all profits going to the Samaritans.

BUY YOUR RAFFLE TICKET HERE

A huge thanks to all those who have supported us in setting this vent up.

• Cadenhead’s
• Springbank Distillery
• Gordon & Macphails
• Paul John
• And some pretty amazing customers who have also given some gems to the cause.

Stephen

The Samaritans is a registered charity. Registration Number 268293