BIG-hearted staff at Douglas Park Nursery are taking part in a virtual kilt walk later this month to raise much-needed funds for renovations.

Three teachers and nursery management will walk from Largs to Ardrossan and back on Saturday - a total of 23 miles - to raise money for a new floor in the building.

Teacher Lynsey Gray says they are taking part to make the nursery's environment as welcoming as possible for the children.

She said: “We had signed up to do the kiltwalk in April but due to lockdown it was cancelled - so organisers said instead we could do a virtual one.

“We thought we would all continue with the plan and we will walk from the nursery building to Ardrossan and back, which is about 23 miles.

“We are raising money to get a new floor put in for the whole complex. We’re pleading poverty this year because we have no funds coming in.

“We just want to make it look nice for the kids and make sure it’s a nicer environment for them to learn in.”

The teacher says that staff and pupils at the nursery, which is a charity, have been unable to fundraise as normal this year due to the Covid-19 shutdown.

Lynsey explained: “It is always better if you fundraise as opposed to applying for grants, it means people can get involved.

“We want to collect cash with a purpose because our efforts are always better received when people know what their money is going towards.

“We want to be active within the community. Usually we would have done sponsored walks and other things by now, but because of coronavirus we have been able to get out the starting blocks.

“The nursery hasn’t been able to generate any funds since March as we were been shut down fr months, so this will probably be our only fundraiser of the year.”

The nursery reopened to its 18 pupils on August 12 and Lynsey says both teachers and youngsters have enjoyed being back.

She says the pupils are right behind the staff taking on the challenge - and the support of the youngsters has spurred them on to raise as much as possible for the cause.

Lynsey added: “We’re all quite active anyway so we haven’t really trained for it - I guess we’ll find out on the day if that was over-confidence!

“The only thing we cannot guarantee is the weather, but hopefully it’s nice and we can have a good walk to Ardrossan.

“We are trying to raise the money as a team and it will all benefit the nursery and the kids.”

You can donate to the staff’s virtual kilt walk and help raise funds for a new floor at https://glasgowkiltwalk2020.everydayhero.com/uk/douglas-park-dream-team