Glenfarclas Distillery team boosts Moray Food Plus by more than £16,000
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A SPEYSIDE family-owned distillery has offered a helping hand to struggling locals by making a bumper Christmas donation to Moray Food Plus.
Rather than charging for distillery visits since reopening in June, Glenfarclas Distillery invited visitors to donate instead to the local food bank in the run-up to Christmas.
The distillery team's effort over the past five months has raised £16,581 for the charity.
A Glenfarclas spokesperson said: "The gesture has been appreciated by visitors from all over the world who have been incredibly generous."
A cheque presentation was held at the Ballindalloch distillery on Wednesday, December 8, attended by the Lord Lieutenant of Moray, Major General Seymour Monro, and Patricia Seligman, Vice Lord Lieutenant of Banffshire.
Life at Glenfarclas changed overnight when the pandemic hit in March last year. Production stopped, staff worked from home and the visitor centre closed its doors.
While production and export returned, the visitor centre remained closed until late June until the whole team had been fully vaccinated.
On reopening, J & G Grant chairman John Grant made the decision to drop the standard tour charges, and instead, at the end of each tour, the team requested donations to the charity.
The charity effort was kept running until the end of November, in order to hand over the total in time for Christmas.
Mr Grant said: "We are so pleased with the positive response from our visitors. The result of the donations box has been fantastic and has far surpassed our expectations.
"It is a pleasure to continue to help Moray Food Plus in supporting our community and our thanks go to the visitors for this incredible generosity which made this possible."
Mairi McCallum, Moray Food Plus project manager, said: "We are absolutely amazed at the generosity of everyone who donated. We understand visitors came from far and wide and appreciate them supporting our local charity.
"We would especially like to thank visitor centre manager Matthew Porritt and the visitor centre staff for their hard work in raising this fantastic amount which will make such a big difference in the work we do.
"Thank you also to John Grant for being so generous and for his support over the last few years and also to the Lord Lieutenants of Moray and Banffshire for nominating us as the charity to benefit."
Glenfarclas supported the charity last year with its exclusive distillery bottling and Christmas collection.
Distillery manager Callum Fraser also gave up time on his birthday to host a special manager's tour, with all proceeds going to Moray Food Plus.
