SANE is a leading UK mental health charity, improving the quality of life for anyone affected by mental illness.

It was founded in 1986 by a wonderful lady, Marjorie Wallace CBE, following her pioneering articles, The Forgotten Illness, in The Times.

These articles exposed the way in which society neglected individuals and families affected by mental illness, and the lack of information, treatments and strategies for prevention. Forty years on these issues remain.

The charity aims to:

- Raise awareness and understanding of all mental health conditions.

- Combat the stigma surrounding mental illness and fight to improve frontline services for individuals and carers.

- Provide support, information and guidance through its helpline, SANEline, email and ongoing support services, Textcare and Online Forum.

- Promote and host research into the causes of mental illness, and the effectiveness of treatments and therapies at the Prince of Wales International Centre for SANE Research in Oxford.

One of the ways in which SANE has broken down the barriers to discussing mental health has been through their Black Dog campaign. As a result, beautiful fibreglass Black Dogs can be found in major cities throughout the UK.

Thanks to the efforts of a brilliant team at Heriot-Watt University, with support from the business Ryden, there has been one in Edinburgh, named Angus, since 2012.

However, there is still not one in Glasgow. My hope is that together we can put that right.

Having walked the "Black Dog" over the years, I know that it is good to talk, and Angus, and the other dogs have enabled many to do just that.

What do you call a dog in Glasgow? Why of course it's Dug! And Dug is the working title for this wee project. We have been working away on this since 2012, but need to do more to fulfill this ambition.

Accordingly, this is the time for a major push in 2026. A minimum of £9,600 should be enough for Dug to be created, with a bit left over for SANE's wider programme. Poor mental health is still a major issue in our city, but our hope is that with your help we can make a difference.

Thanks for taking the time to visit our Just Giving page. Along with a hundred plus friends you have helped boost the total raised so far to around £4,000.00, a solid base in our efforts to get #Dug on the streets of Glasgow in 2026. Thank you for your support.

Thanks too to everyone who has supported me and SANE. We are now at 40% of the target, partly via a generous response to me clearing out my football and golf commentary notes from my time working as a commentator for BBC Radio Scotland. "Where there is muck there is brass" is still true, and £700.00 was raised in that way

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. It's the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

As many of you will know, in the midst of the joy of working as a commentator, and as a Media Centre manager at The Open Golf Championship and other major tournaments, there were a few difficult walks with the "black dog". But together we made it! And I can't thank you enough for that.

SANE do great work for men and women, young and old.

Please give what you can afford. "Dug" is going to happen.

Thank You.

Best Wishes

David