A prolific Auchterarder fundraiser who has raised more than £37,000 has returned from an out-of-the-ordinary trip to Africa.
Estelle Nicol, 55, has singlehandedly secured tens of thousands of pounds mainly through treks across the world.
Her first long-distance charity walk was along the Great Wall of China for Scottish Autism in 2003.
She has since trekked in the Jordanian desert, Tanzania, Madagascar, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Lower Himalayas, the Sahara Desert, the Camino Frances Route and ventured to Everest Base Camp.
But Estelle has now returned from a very different expedition, helping children in an “eye-opening” trip to Kenya.
This article outlines Estelle’s latest trip while also revealing some of her community fundraising activities.
NHS job after 38 years in banking
Estelle has lived in Auchterarder her entire life.
She spent 38 years in banking, beginning her career at the Bank of Scotland in Perth’s St John Street.
Her roles included project and change management, and she was the executive assistant to the managing director for a decade.
By the time she left in May 2022 she was working for Lloyds, which became Bank of Scotland’s parent company in 2009.
Estelle currently works at Murray Royal Hospital in Perth.
‘Invaluable’ help in mum’s final days
The vast majority of Estelle’s fundraising has been for terminal illness charity Marie Curie, who helped in the final days of her mother Agnes Johnman’s life in 2009.
“We only had Marie Curie for a couple of nights but the service was invaluable and priceless,” Estelle said.
“It doesn’t just provide care for patients but support for family as well.
“When you as a family are faced with a loved one dying you don’t know what to look for, what is happening and what to do the minutes after they take their last breath.
“If you have a Marie Curie nurse there it makes it so much easier.”
Estelle’s father John Johnman, 88, lives in Auchterarder.
Perth buffet ahead of Everest trek
At more than £37,000, Estelle’s fundraising tally is extraordinary.
One of her methods is to get involved in local events.
The bake sales, quizzes and raffles she has organised also give something back to the local community.
“I would rather do something like that than ask people if they would sponsor me,” Estelle said.
“The best way to go about it is organising something where people have a good time while also raising funds.”
Recent examples include last month’s quiz night at the Pitcairngreen Inn and events at Aberuthven Village Hall.
When Estelle visited the Everest Base Camp in 2019 for a charity trip organised by Marie Curie, she linked up with Bhola Khanal at Perth’s Everest Inn.
He made a special buffet with some of the proceeds going towards her fundraising campaign.
One million served by 22 toilets
The recent trip to Kenya followed treks last year in Africa’s Sahara Desert and the Compostella region of Spain.
In Kenya she worked with the Memusi Foundation to help boost education opportunities primarily in Magadi, Kajiado County.
The foundation was set up by her friend and ex-colleague Matt Norton and his wife, Sally, after visiting Kenya on their honeymoon 14 years ago.
For Estelle it was a return to the Maasai region that she previously experienced while trekking in Tanzania in 2012.
She travelled with shorts and tops, craft materials and sports socks to give to impoverished locals.
“We saw Maasai tribes across the way and was very interesting,” she said of the trip a decade ago.
This time around she was one of a small group of six who spent eight days visiting various projects.
She saw the vast Kibera slums, where a population of one million is served by 22 toilets, and helped Masaai ladies paint classrooms.
In addition, she was part of a group who listened to business ideas to help street children in Nairobi set up small businesses.
Memusi, on the group’s recommendation, provided microfinance.
“The Kibera slums were a real eye-opener,” Estelle said.
“One million people live there and there are 22 toilets.
“We visited the Kibera Girls Soccer Academy set up by Abdul Kassim – he was Lenny Henry’s guide when Comic Relief were in Kenya. There are a number of Memusi graduates who now study there.
“At the Street Children in Nairobi project, children told us their stories of how they ended up on the streets and their hopes for the future.
“The trip was hard work, very rewarding and inspiring – where there’s love, there’s hope.”
Family makes it all possible
Estelle’s horizons are as broad as you are likely to find but she admits this is only possible because of the support of her family.
Her husband Ken is the retired former owner of Sasha’s hair salon, which had branches in Crieff and Comrie.
They live with their son Marcus, 21, in Auchterarder.
“They are both very supportive because its all very well someone going off and doing their own thing but you need support of family to do that,” Estelle said.
“I feel very proud of what I have achieved, especially given that fundraising is getting harder and harder because people don’t have a lot of spare money to give.
“I just do what I can do between working and other things.
“I would love to raise much more than I have but if I can continue to fundraise gradually I will be happy with that.”
Conversation