Mamma Mia screening at Hippodrome to raise funds for Maggie's

Having moved to Linlithgow in 2006, Bryan has called the town home since.

His sister Jenny regularly visited from London, as their elderly mother also lived in Scotland – eventually, she rented a flat in Linlithgow in 2017 as a base for her trips up north.

However, Jenny’s world changed at the end of 2018 when a fall saw her pelvis crumble; admitted to hospital, the doctors diagnosed her with stage four breast cancer and told her it was unlikely to be curable as the disease had spread.

Jenny was on a visit to Linlithgow when the first pandemic lockdown was imposed and ended up making the town her home too.

She set to work on Zoom, working as a tutor in English language and literature, while undergoing treatment at St John’s Hospital in Livingston and the Western General in Edinburgh.

While there, Jenny discovered the Maggie’s Centre and, throughout her three year battle with the disease, she came to rely on the charity for support and guidance.

Sadly, despite treatment to keep her cancer at bay, Jenny collapsed at home and was taken to St John’s – where she passed away 12 days later, on September 10, 2021.

For Bryan, the rapid decline of his wee sister, who was aged just 50 at the time, was difficult to comprehend – the siblings and their eldest brother Paul (58) had already lost their mum to cancer in April 2019.

Throughout her last days, Bryan sought support and advice from the team at Maggie’s who had already been such a support to Jenny.

And as he tried to come to terms with her loss, he decided he wanted to do something to repay the charity.

By the end of 2022, he had raised an incredible £9000 for Maggie’s Edinburgh – having run the London Marathon and staged a a film night at the Barony Theatre in Bo’ness, screening one of Jenny’s favourite films, The Sound of Music.

In 2023, Bryan continued his fundraising efforts, raising £5500 for Maggie’s Forth Valley via a screening of Top Gun at the Hippodrome, which raised £2000, followed by a skydive on June 30.

Linlithgow Running Buddies fellow member, Angela Frater, supported the movie night, having been diagnosed in summer 2022 with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She couldn’t join him on the skydive...as the date clashed with Bo’ness Fair Day!

However, Angela, who is now in remission, is again supporting Bryan’s latest fundraising drive. Although there will be no daredevil stuff this year, the pair will be pulling on their trainers for the Edinburgh half marathon on May 25, having completed the 10K last year.

And just ahead of race day, on Tuesday, May 21, they will be staging another movie night in the Hippodrome.

Bryan (55) said: “Angela got an email in after we did the 10K last year and she’s signed us both up to do the half marathon.

“She’s also helped me organise the movie night; we’ve opted for Mamma Mia, as we got some feedback after Top Gun last year that it would go down well.

“I’ll be raising funds for Maggie’s Edinburgh this year as that’s the centre where my sister and I got so much support. I’m just trying to raise as much as I can for a great cause.”

Top Gun last year raised £2000 via ticket sales and donation bucket collections on the night, which saw £600 alone being collected.

Bryan added: “Ticket sales have been sluggish but people usually buy them a couple weeks before the event. There’s 220 seats in the Hippodrome and we’re hoping to fill them all.”

Tickets are priced £12 per adult (£6 concs for over 60s and under 16s), with a family ticket £30 from www.falkirkleisureandculture.org/whats-on/mamma-mia-maggies-centres-charity-movie-night.