Selkirk man shows true Xmas spirit

This week Malky, who lives in Selkirk with wife Fiona and their year-old daughter, put that into practice by donating to the needy, and he hopes others will do the same as we head towards Christmas.

Last week, Malky, 30, who works at Abbey Wines in Melrose, put a message on the 
Facebook page where people in the Borders offer to give away for free those goods they no longer need.

Malky and Fiona had decided they had items in their freezer which they would not use over Christmas, and it might be nice to offer them in the form of a hamper to someone in more need.

However, the couple could not have anticipated the response. “The response has been overwhelming,” Malky told us this week.

“Not just from all the people who got in touch interested in receiving the hamper, but from a whole host of others offering to help and donate stuff for more hampers.”

Malky delivered that initial hamper to a Coldstream resident on Sunday and now has enough donated items for a further nine hampers, keeping him busy on deliveries until Christmas Eve.

“We just wanted to make a small low-key gesture of goodwill for someone. But the response was phenomenal and some of the messages from individuals and families who replied were heart-breaking.

“It doesn’t take a lot to make a big difference for someone. One man can’t change the world but for one man that world can be changed – I believe that to be true.”