Community / Vementry fundraiser back home after four days ‘in the wild’
A FUNDRAISER is back enjoying home comforts after spending four days and nights on the uninhabited island of Vementry for a charity challenge.
Kevin Tulloch left the island, as planned, at midday on Monday after getting by catching fish and sourcing water and firewood.
He has raised nearly £4,500 so far for Juvenile Arthritis Research and Macmillan Cancer Support.
The 36-year-old said he had a “great time but it wasn’t easy or by any means always great fun”.
Kevin, with limited supplies, arrived on the island off the Shetland mainland on Thursday afternoon but only managed to catch a fish for supper by about 11pm – “one of the best and most satisfying meals I’ve had in a long time”.
On Friday he was joined by charity walker Chris Lewis and his dog Jet, who recently spent a number of months on the uninhabited island of Hildasay.
They spent time walking around the isle, while Chris also imparted some of his survival and camping wisdom.
The Saturday, however, was a bit of a slog, with the heavens opening up and lashing Shetland with rain.
“I spent most of the day reading my book and sheltering in the tent only to discover I’d accidentally burned most of my kindling/smaller bits of wood while I’d been in the tent,” he said.
“Things were looking up on Sunday – fine weather, and I managed to chop up some fresh kindling, and headed off to the other end of the Isle around the Auld Toon (old crofthouse) managed to catch a couple more fish on the way home so ate a bit earlier for a change and did a bit of beach cleaning.”
In an upturn in culinary fortune Kevin got to enjoy a couple of bacon rolls and a bottle of beer while being taken back to the mainland thanks to his wife Claire and boat owner James Isbister.
Both charities are close to Kevin’s heart. In November 2018 his daughter Lita, who was then aged three, was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis.
Macmillan Cancer Support, meanwhile, has supported his niece Lauren since her diagnosis of bowel cancer almost a year ago, all the way through to her recent major surgery.
Kevin said he has been “completely blown away by the response” to his fundraising appeal.
Donations are still being accepted online.
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