A collective dress as you please day was held last Friday across all the schools and school nurseries in the Montrose area. It was organised by 11-year-old Lochside School pupil Alex Blackburn who had been moved to take action after watching television news reports from the disaster area in the Caribbean country.

She got local fundraising off to a flying start last Tuesday after asking her head teacher if she could hold a fundraising baking sale at Lochside. Open to Primary 4 to Primary 7 as well as staff, the sale raised £110 in one day.

Alex's actions so impressed mum Karen that she suggested she could try getting the town's other schools involved.

The move was backed enthusiastically by every head teacher and every pupil, from nursery children to senior academy students, was given the opportunity to make a donation to turn up to school out of uniform.

The money raised will be donated to the British Red Cross (BRC) which will in turn contribute it to the Disasters Emergency Committee's (DEC) appeal for the disaster which left more than 200,000 dead and hundreds of thousands more in need of clean water, temporary shelter and medical help.

Mrs Blackburn this week said that Alex was delighted with the support.
She said: "There's some last minute money to come in but it's been fantastic. All the kids have rallied round and all the head teachers have been really enthusiastic.

"Alex is really happy with the result."

Morag Smith, senior fundraiser for the BRC's mid Scotland and Argyll area, had said she was impressed with the pupils' initial response to appeals for donations.

She said thousands of children had been affected by the disaster and praised local youngsters for their compassion for others.