A LOCAL weightlifting club has shown their members have big hearts as well as big muscles after donating £500 to an Ardrossan family who lost everything in a fire.

Members of Glencairn Bodybuilding Club in Stevenston were moved by the Herald’s recent report that five-year-old Sarah Alexander and her parents Andrea and Willie lost all their belongings when fire destroyed their home on Whitecraig Road.

Dougie Rae, who is on the committee of Glencairn Gym, told the Herald: “When some of the guys read the article, they really felt for the family. We all thought the same thing – that we would like to help the family out a bit. None of us would like something like that to happen to us.”

As the Herald previously reported, the Alexanders were left with only the clothes on their backs when an explosion, thought to have been caused by an electrical fault in their kitchen, sparked a fire that devastated their home on Tuesday, January 12.

The family were lucky to have been out when the fire struck but sadly their beloved cat was in the property and died due to smoke inhalation.

When the Herald contacted Andrea to tell her about the £500 cheque from Glencairn Gym, she was so overwhelmed that she burst into tears.

Andrea said: “That’s so, so nice of them. It’s so nice it’s made me cry. I can’t believe how kind people have been. I just can’t describe how I feel. I’m speechless.

“It’s just lovely. I can’t believe they’ve raised this money for us. Sarah’s birthday’s coming up so I could give some of it to her. She’s going on a Princess Day so I might buy her something special to wear to the that and then give her some spending money.”

Glencairn Gym committee members presented the £500 cheque to the Alexander family at their temporary accommodation in Lawson Drive. The club, which has around 300 members, is keen to raise funds within the community. Chairman Bert Payne confirmed that Glencairn Gym would continue to be pro-active and supportive of local worthy causes.

Dougie added: “A lot of people probably think it’s just guys only training muscles and not much else but we do a lot to help local charities.

“The club accumulates funds and then reinvests it into the gym again. When we’ve got some money left over, we like to give back to the community. This is what we’ve been doing for the last few years.

“We’ve given to the foodbank and we gave to children’s charities at Christmas time. We have local kids in to get them interested in some contact sports so that they’re not just sitting at home.

“We wish the Alexander family all the best. We will continue to be supportive of any causes we can help out there.”

Since the Herald reported on the Alexander family’s tragedy, many people from the local community have rallied round to help Andrea, Willie and Sarah. One resident came into our office and dropped off a bag of clothes for us to pass on, while others approached the family with donations. And as we reported last week, Andrea’s friend Claire Bruce set up a Just Giving page to raise money to help the Alexanders get back on their feet.

Since then, the family’s neighbour from Whitecraig Road bought some goodies for Sarah, an act of kindness which Andrea said brought her tears of joy.

Andrea said: “My old next door neighbour went out to the Disney Store and got Sarah some dressing-up costumes. That made me cry – and now the club raising all this money has made me cry. I just can’t believe how supportive everyone’s been.”