Tom Gilzean to be posthumously awarded MBE for charity work

Tom Gilzean, who raised more than £1m for sick children, is to be posthumously awarded his MBE.

Charity legend Tom Gilzean will posthumously be awarded his MBE for his fundraising efforts.

His son Douglas will collect the award at a ceremony being held at Edinburgh City Chambers at 5pm on Wednesday.

The MBE will be presented by Lord Lieutenant Frank Ross and there will be a speech before a small reception.

Mr Gilzean, who raised more than £1m for sick children in Edinburgh and was often seen on Princes Street shaking his collection tin while dressed in tartan, died at Erskine House veterans’ hospital late last year.

He was aged 99 when he passed away in November.

The MBE was awarded for his prolific charity fundraising and received the capital’s highest civic medal, the Edinburgh Award, in 2014.

The former bus driver, a father of two, served his with the Royal Engineers during the Second World War.

An ‘Oor Wullie’ statue was created in his honour during a recent fundraising campaign for the Edinburgh Children’s Hospital.

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