Renaldos co-owner raises big money for charities in Ayrshire

Linda Galli, co-owner of Renaldos in Ayr, completed a zipslide over the River Clyde on September 12, and is set to take part in Ayrshire does Strictly on Saturday, September 28.

For the zipslide, she raised £3,050 after setting a £500 target, and for Ayrshire Does Strictly she has already raised over £3,300.

Linda saw the advert for the zipslide while she was scrolling on Facebook. (Image: Linda Galli) After seeing an advert on Facebook, she decided to sign up for the 100ft zipslide, and was motivated to do Ayrshire Does Strictly to show that you can still have fun when you’re about to turn 60.

She describes herself as a ‘rocket’ and changed her outlook on life after almost dying from Bacterial Meningitis.

Linda said: “Everything just shut down, I was one hour away from death, I couldn’t see properly, I couldn’t even move my right hand at all, although my husband now calls it my jazz hand.

“It’s amazing how my body has adapted and now I’m able to get up on stage and dance a fast jive. To be told your body is shutting down and know that I could have lost limbs, I’m eternally grateful.”

While in recovery, she struggled to get up and down flights of stairs by herself, and had to attend speech therapy every week for six months.

She credits not taking any antibiotics for 15 years as a major reason why she responded so well to medical treatment in hospital and was able to recover.

Linda and her partner Craig Murdoch will be the first pair dancing on the night. (Image: Linda Galli) Linda is currently in training for the dance competition with her professional partner Craig Murdoch.

Together they’re going to be dancing a jive to ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ by Queen – a song which she says will be played at her funeral.

She said: “I’m the first one up dancing and I’m absolutely petrified. I know I’m the oldest one taking part, and I’m not the best dancer, but I just really don’t want to let my partner down.

“Dancing in front of everyone is a big fear or mine, but I’ve got 30 people coming that night to cheer me on and I couldn’t have done it without any of them.”

The money raised from Ayrshire does Strictly will be donated to The Killie Community who raise funds to run three key programmes to improve health, wellbeing and employment.

All funds from the zipslide are being donated to Ayrshire Hospice who are the sole provider of specialist palliative care across Ayrshire and Arran who will use the funds to keep delivering our services for future generations.

To donate to her Ayrshire Does Strictly fundraiser you can visit https://www.justgiving.com/page/linda-does-strictly.