A DUNDEE teenager who penned a song in tribute to the nation’s soldiers will donate half the profits from it to war veterans’ charity Erskine.

Menzieshill High School pupil Toni Morel (15) will do Waiting For You at a ceilidh on Saturday night in the Dundee TA Centre.

Toni, who is applying to study drama at Dundee College, may not have much experience in the industry but the writing process of her debut single was very swift.

Toni said, “I was speaking to my friend Craig and his brother Kevin Elliott was in the army, and he sadly passed away.

“I asked Craig what he felt like and he said it just felt like he was waiting.

“I had already written some lyrics and then after he told me how he felt it all came together really quickly.”

Toni’s own cousin Michael serves with The Black Watch and is based near Inverness.

The CD was recorded at Dundee’s Red Barn Studios and is selling well at Groucho’s.

Toni decided to donate £1 of every sale to Erskine after seeing an advert on TV.

She said, “When we wrote the song for the army we were in my grandad’s house.

“We saw some more troops had sadly passed away and then the Erskine advert came on TV just before Remembrance Day so I decided to give to them.”

Erskine fund-raiser Catherine Cowie said, “All the veterans at Erskine are extremely pleased that Toni is backing our cause and wish her every success in her fund-raising efforts.”

Toni hopes to embark on a music career and already has the lyrics of a follow-up single.

Grandfather Thomas Taylor told The Courier, “Toni has got music on her mind.

“We were listening to her CD and single one night, which is all her own music and her own lyrics, and since Toni has always wanted to donate to charity we decided that Erskine was the ideal choice.”

Founded in 1916, Erskine has cared for ex-members of the armed forces since the first world war.