A TERMINALLY ill woman’s dream of one last family holiday is set to come true thanks to the generosity of the people of Barrhead.

The Barrhead News reports that Margaret McKinnon, 63, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and may have less than a year to live, but all she wants is to see Blackpool Illuminations with her family.

Last month, a fundraiser was launched, aiming to raise £1,000 to pay for Margaret, her children and grandchildren to travel down to the English seaside resort for the annual lights festival.

And just a few weeks later, the target has been smashed, with donations from dozens of kind-hearted supporters contributing to a total of £1,335.

Before setting up the fundraiser, Margaret’s daughter Angela Watt, of Oakbank Drive, said: “Blackpool is a place we’ve gone to a lot for family holidays, but we always went in the summertime so we’d get the nice weather, but the kids have never seen the lights. 

“She was obviously thinking about that and how she’d like to see it with them.

“It is a special place. It’s where we made a lot of great memories together and I think that’s one of the reasons she wants to go back.

“We don’t know how much time we have with her and it’s all she’s asked for.” 

Margaret is well-known in the town. On top of raising a family, she worked in the Barrhead Kid Leather Company for years as well as Lep International in Blackbyres Road, before joining Matalan.

With her husband John she raised two children, John and Angela, and has three grandchildren, Ashleigh, Sean and Jakson. Last year, she became a great-grandmother with the arrival of baby Caleb.

Angela said the family has been overwhelmed by the support - Margaret in particular.

She said: “We are over the moon. We never would have thought we would reached the target, let alone go over it.

“We would just like to thank everyone for helping us do this for Mum. It means such a lot to us.

“Mum was crying every time she saw the total go up. She couldn’t believe what everyone was doing.”

Margaret was recently hospitalised with a blood clot and is still recovering, so the family’s week-long trip to the Lancashire town has been booked for October 1.