A donation from JK Rowling has helped pay for a new multi-use games area in Dunkeld.
Kate Brooks began a fundraising campaign after the tragic road death of her son Robbie Melvin, 10, outside their home near the Perthshire village in September 2005.
Harry Potter author Ms Rowling contributed £5,000 towards the £34,000 that the grieving mother raised within six months.
And now, more than 17 years later, the bulk of that money has finally been put towards a new covered sports facility in Dunkeld.
The new Muga in Birnam, off the A9, was financed by a £20,000 grant from the Robbie fund and £10,000 from Dunkeld and Birnam District Leisure Group.
The facility was opened on Wednesday by BBC sports commentator Eilidh Barbour and St Johnston footballers Theo Blair and Connor McLennan.
Kate, who now lives in England, was also present.
“It is lovely to see it now,” she said.
“Robbie would have just adored it because he loved his rugby and cricket and football.
“Every night after school he would go to a sporting club so it is fitting that it is a Muga pitch.”
In this article Kate relives the horrific aftermath of Robbie’s death and explains why she felt she had to move from the area. We also profile the new sports facilities.
Doctors’ efforts were in vain
Whitley Bay-born Kate was 18 when she moved up to Scotland with her mother.
She lived in Strathtay and Aberfeldy before moving to Dalguise, near Dunkeld, in 1994 – the year before Robbie was born.
Kate worked as a housekeeper, served in a café and also drove the village school bus and local taxis.
Robbie’s tragic death took place on the B898 outside his home in Inchmagrannachan on Friday, September 30 2005.
The Royal School of Dunkeld pupil was cycling to a friend’s house when he was involved in a collision with a car.
Despite the best efforts of doctors from the Ninewells trauma team he died soon after, at around 6pm.
JK Rowling ‘so kind and compassionate’
A Muga has been an aspiration in Dunkeld since the mid 1990s after Perth and Kinross Council identified inadequate sports facilities in the area.
Kate felt this would be the best way to mark the memory of her sports-mad son so made that her short-term goal.
“After Robbie died I needed something to do,” she said.
“I had to be occupied all the time and I wanted to do something worthwhile so I threw myself into it for the next six months.”
She undertook leaflet drops and appealed for donations, including to JK Rowling, who was a friend of a friend.
In return, Kate received a handwritten letter with a cheque for £5,000.
Ms Rowling wrote that she was “sorry to hear about Robbie and I am sure he would find what you are doing in his name absolutely wonderful”.
Kate said: “It was absolutely amazing. She was so kind and compassionate.”
School friends donated £1 pocket money
While Ms Rowling was a high-profile contributor, an anonymous Dunkeld group also donated £5,000.
But the smaller amounts were just as treasured.
“We received money from family members and so many friends,” Kate said.
“I had kids coming up to me in the street saying ‘here is my £1 pocket money, can you put it to Robbie’s fund?’
“Some had a stall and sold orange juice and made a few quid. It wasn’t all big donations.
“People did what they could and it meant a lot to me that so many people did so much to help.”
‘Unbelievable’ turnout for sponsored walk
Kate’s fundraising drive culminated in a five-mile sponsored walk in March 2006.
It began and ended from the site of the new Muga next to the existing tennis courts in Birnam.
More than 400 people partook in a memorable occasion that included pictures of Robbie along the route and music from the Blair of Atholl pipe band.
At the end of the walk a raffle was held as participants drank soup supplied by volunteers.
“So many people turned out for it, it was unbelievable,” Kate said.
“Everybody felt that they wanted to do something to help because what had happened was a worst nightmare.”
House move was her way of coping
At around that time Kate split with Robbie’s stepfather, Kenneth Wallace, who worked as a joiner.
Her cat was also a car crash victim on the same road where Robbie lost his life.
Two years on from his death, she moved away.
“I never thought I would leave the house,” Kate said.
“But every day I went to the graveyard and every day I went past where he was killed outside the house.
“I would have gone mad if I’d stayed there as it was so in-your-face.
“Getting away from it was probably one of the best things I ever did.
“Moving away from it doesn’t take it away or make the pain any less.
“It’s all still with you. It is just about learning to cope with it.”
Games area has Robbie plaque
Kate spent the next 13 years in West Sussex before returning to her home county of North Yorkshire last year.
Here she runs a café with her chef husband Trevor Brooks in Osmotherley, near Northallerton.
She still has a link to the area through her other son Stuart, 34, who lives in Dundee.
Though the Muga has taken a long time to come to fruition, the Robbie campaign has helped bridge the gap.
Since 2015 the fund annually donates £300 to the village primary school for sports equipment and a trophy to the highest-achieving pupil.
Now it is open, the new games area has a plaque in memory of Robbie.
“It’s wonderful that the money is being used for a Muga pitch,” Kate said,
“At the same time I am quite sad it was not done sooner because most people who knew him may have gone their separate ways and left the area.”
Locals already using facility
The new facility is outdoors but covered.
It offers a dry, lit space to play a wide range of sports including basketball, tennis, netball and football.
Stuart Paton, chair of Dunkeld and Birnam Sports and Leisure Hub, said: “We are delighted that the facility is already getting well used by a lot of different age groups with the youngest being children from our local nursery.
“We have made the facility freely available for use by the Royal School of Dunkeld every morning and Live Active have been brilliant at introducing the children to the facility.”
Other contributors to the £395,000 project were Perth and Kinross Council, the SSE Griffin Calliacher Community Fund, Gannochy Trust, Sports Scotland and four local estates – Glenquaich, Snaigow, Garrows and Lochan.
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