Scotland's young Braveheart returns to fight heart disease

Andrew Weir, the actor who played Young Hamish in Mel Gibson’s Braveheart at the age of 13, has raised over £1,100 for British Heart Foundation Scotland in memory of his dad.

Andrew, originally from Ayr, left Scotland for New York in 2005 and now lives in San Francisco, California. He is currently appearing as Robert Burns in a promotion for Homecoming 2009 on the website scotland.org

He organised the charity golf event at Belleisle municipal golf course in Ayr in memory of his father David, who died suddenly of a heart attack in August 1999, aged just 49. By tragic coincidence Andrew’s grandfather was 48 when he died - also of a heart attack.

Andrew says: ”My father was incredibly sociable and popular and when he died, his friends gathered enough money to erect a bench in his memory at the first tee at Belleisle golf course so it is a very special place for the whole family. We had so much interest from people who knew my dad that we didn’t really need to promote the event.”

The tournament was organised by Andrew and close family friend, Charlie McGill. It was a great success with over 60 golfers taking part and the event continued into the evening with a fundraiser at The Chase in Ayr. Raffle prizes were donated by William Grant & Sons and John Higgins donated a signed snooker cue.

Andrew added: ”John Murtagh, the actor from Braveheart, Rob Roy and River City, introduced the raffle. John and I worked together for many years in the entertainment business. He recently suffered a heart attack while working in Glasgow and so was keen to come along and promote the vital work of BHF Scotland.”