A present for Charlie

A few months ago, Charlie took delivery of a new American-style fridge freezer, and as he worked on installing it for him, the engineer enjoyed a good old chat with the Souter.

And Donald Webb from Paisley, who works for appliance site AO.com, was so moved by 84-year-old Charlie’s story that he wanted to organise a nice surprise for him.

While chatting, Donald learnt that Charlie had had a tough year, after his son and daughter-in-law were involved in a horrific car crash that left them both badly injured and upon leaving hospital, they lived with Charlie for three months until they recovered.

While all of this was happening, Charlie was also a full-time carer for his wife who was living with dementia and sadly, just a few months after his son and daughter-in-law returned home, she passed away.

Once Donald had returned to AO’s depot in Larkhall, he immediately spoke to his supervisors to organise a surprise gift to be delivered to Charlie so that he could get 2023 off to a much better start.

He said: “I remember leaving Charlie’s home and thinking, wow, he deserves a medal for what he has gone through.

"He was such a cheerful chap and I really wanted to do something for him because he seemed like the kind of person that helps everyone he comes across in life.”

After learning that Charlie’s son lived hundreds of miles away in England, Donald picked out a new Lenovo tablet as the perfect gift for Charlie, so that he could keep in touch with his son via video call, and just a few weeks later he dropped the tablet off himself to his doorstep.

Donald told us: “It was lovely to see Charlie again and I was delighted to hear that he had a lovely Christmas and New Year with his son and daughter-in-law.

"Hopefully this gift will mean that he can regularly catch up with them whenever he wishes.”