Doddie Foundation boost

Doddie’s British and Irish Lions teammate, Scott Quinnell of Wales, is the brand ambassador for the finance company, and he and its CEO, Tony Gilberton, handed over the cheque to fellow Lions legend Scott Hastings at a drinks reception in Glasgow on Tuesday.

Mr Gilberton said: “We met Doddie in the days leading up to the announcement about his diagnosis with Motor Neuron Disease. He was such a larger-than-life character and a real gentleman. Even though we were only in his presence for a short time he left an indelible impression on us, so we were hugely saddened by the news of his untimely passing last year.

“Upon making the decision to gift a sum per loan we complete to a deserving cause, the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation was very much in our thoughts.

“As a business, we enjoyed a successful year in 2022, but we felt that it was important that we take our good fortune and give something back to the wider community where it could potentially make a real difference.

“With this donation we really hope we can play our part in helping Doddie achieve his final wish of finding a cure for MND, whilst raising awareness of this as-yet incurable disease, supporting sufferers and researching possible treatments.”

Hastings said: “"I was delighted to catch up with my good friend Scott Quinnell who is an Ambassador for Signature property finance and can't thank them enough for their generous donation."

Quinnell and Weir both travelled with the Lions on the South Africa tour in 1997, but it ended badly for both.

While Weir grabbed his one and only Lions try on his debut against Eastern Province, he suffered a horrific knee injury against Mpumalanga Province, which forced him to return home early before the test series.

And Quinnell's journey ended when he had to undergo a double hernia operation.