The Acorn Centre ‘one stop shop’ for children with multiple health needs at Vale of Leven Hospital in Alexandria has received another boost from St John Scotland.

A cheque for £700 was presented by St John Scotland Dunbartonshire chairman Colonel John Kelly at the hospital on Monday.

He said that this latest donation brought the total given to the centre by the county branch to some £7,000 in recent years.

It was accepted by Sheila Downie, service manager for West Dunbartonshire Specialist Children's Services, and Karen Ferguson, consultant clinical psychologist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

Sheila said: “Thanks to the ongoing generosity of St John Scotland Dunbartonshire, the Acorn Centre hopes to purchase a tablet for use by the children.”

Colonel Kelly was accompanied by committee member Derek Hall — for whom it was a nostalgic trip.

On October 23 1998, when he was chairman of the Lomond Healthcare NHS Trust, Mr Hall officially opened the centre.

Other beneficiaries which are receiving cheques for £700 from the 2017-18 fundraising by St John Scotland Dunbartonshire are the St Margaret of Scotland Hospice at Clydebank, the Arrochar Mountain Rescue Team, and the Luss-based Loch Lomond Rescue Boat.

The Order in Scotland supports medical and rescue charities, and is closely associated with mountain rescue, palliative care, patient transport, and the provision of defibrillators and CPR training. It paid for the construction of bases for the mountain rescue teams at Arrochar and Drymen, and was the major donor for the Luss rescue boat, St John.

The Order ranks in precedence immediately after the Order of the British Empire. Its Sovereign Head is Her Majesty the Queen, who sanctions all admissions to and promotions within the Order.