Robin’s Christmas card frenzy

Nov 24 2011 by Jeff Holmes, Paisley Daily Express

A CHARITY champion aims to deliver pots of cash for worthy causes – by flogging hundreds of Christmas cards which have been signed by celebrities.

Robin Miller snapped up 4,000 cards in last year’s Boxing Day sales and has so far managed to persuade a staggering 500 famous faces to sign them.

Now he plans to upload them on popular auction website ebay this weekend, where fans can bid for their own piece of celebrity memorabilia.

Up for grabs will be festive cards signed by the likes of Sir Bruce Forsyth, right, Dame Vera Lynn, X-Files actress Gillian Anderson and pop stars Kassidy, as well as sporting heroes such as Sir Bobby Charlton and Scotland skipper Darren Fletcher.

The entire first team squad at St Mirren have also done their bit by signing the cards.

Robin, who is a former pupil at Paisley Grammar School, laughed: “I received some funny stares when I bought the massive consignment of Christmas cards last Boxing Day and I’ve also been through a few pens as I’ve tracked down celebrities to sign them but it’s all for a good cause.

“The money I raise will go towards helping children who have a serious illness.”

Robin is collecting money for the Children with Leukaemia charity and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill in Glasgow, as well as continuing his support for Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, where one of his friends was treated as a youngster.

He has previously ran several marathons and 10k races for charity – and has raised more than £20,000 since he started it all off last year.

Robin, who originally hails from Barrhead and now lives in Glasgow, said: “I started collecting my Christmas card autographs in January, which brought some weird looks, but I didn’t want to wait until later in the year.

“I’ve spent a lot of time on this project. It’s all part of my twelveX12 challenge, which involves raising a total of £12,000 in the space of 12 months.

“I’m around halfway there and hope the ebay auction will take me a good bit further to achieving my goal.

“It has involved a lot of travelling at times but it has been good fun and I have met a lot of famous people along the way.

“St Mirren are one of my favourite teams and I was grateful to David Barron for taking my cards into the dressing room to get them signed by the whole team.

“People have been great and now I hope to raise as much cash as a I can by putting them on ebay this weekend.

“It will no doubt take an age to list all of the items but, after they are all on, I will be able to sit back with a nice glass of wine and, hopefully, watch the pounds roll in.”

l To help Robin reach his fundraising target or to find out more details about the live ebay auctions, log on to his website at www.twelveby12. wordpress.com