ONE of New Cumnock’s most favourite sons has praised a national TV appeal for helping a local charity which provides vital support to bereaved parents.

Sir Tom Hunter, who himself was knighted for services to philanthropy and entrepreneurship, was speaking after it was announced that Beautiful Inside & Out had received £3,000.

The cash boost for the East Ayrshire-based charity, which supports bereaved parents and siblings of suicide victims across Scotland, came from the STV Children’s Appeal.

A recent visitor to his home town when he and the Duke of Rothesay toured the upgraded town hall, Sir Tom is a trustee of the appeal which was launched in 2011.

He said: “It’s charities like Beautiful Inside & Out that can make the world of a difference to those young people most in need.

“From the bottom of my heart I thank everyone who raised money and can again confirm to every last one of you that every pound you gave is being invested in charities like Beautiful Inside & Out to the benefit of Scotland’s young people. You raise a pound we give a pound, simple.”

Beautiful Inside & Out was created after Pauline Moriarty’s 13-year-old daughter Jenna tragically took her own life one day after school.

When Pauline’s daughter told her what had been upsetting her, she told Jenna that she was beautiful inside and out and together they made positive plans to improve things for her.

Less than 48 hours later, Jenna ended her own precious life.

Her mum set up Beautiful Inside & Out, after discovering there were many gaps in the system in terms of providing support to bereaved siblings and parents of suicide victims, so that Jenna could still be helping others.

Pauline said: “This is a fabulous contribution to our work in helping us promote positive feelings of self-worth, through fun sessions in schools and other establishments and supporting bereaved parents and siblings of suicide victims, through counselling, play therapy and music therapy.

“We are also setting up group sessions with a counsellor for families of suicide victims. In this way, we shall never know how many lives we may save. This is Jenna’s legacy, thank you so very much STV Children’s Appeal.”