Newsagent bites off more than he can chew

Nov 4 2011 by Denis Brown, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

SCOOPING a Perth newsagent’s raffle will mean a massive chocolate fix.

The prize is a gigantic Toblerone bar about three and half feet long, that weighs in at a whopping 4.5kg and contains around 23,625 calories and a belly-busting 1.3kg of fat.

Self-confessed chocaholic Robert McCrory, who runs B.A. Kerrigan with wife Jill, said he was browsing in a cash and carry outlet when the monster munchie caught his eye.

“It’s a beauty and when I first saw it, I thought, ‘mmmm, I’ll buy it and keep it for myself’,” he said.

“But then I realised that I couldn’t justify that and with an RRP of £70 there was no way any of our customers were going to buy it – but I wasn’t leaving the store without it!”

So buy it he did and following a pow-wow with Jill came up with a solution – raffle the 12-peaked bar off to raise a few hundred pounds for Children’s Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS).

Childrens’ charities such as CHAS receive monthly donations from the couple, who took over the South Methven Street newsagents 17 years ago and have two kids, James (14) and Sophie (10).

“Children are very close to our hearts, they are the ultimate innocents in this world, and me and my wife think charities like CHAS are the best organisations to give money to,” he said.

“This is the first time we’ve done a fundraiser through the shop though and we’re hoping to raise up to £300, which would be a fantastic result.”

So did he think a sweet-toothed winner would be able to chomp off a whole peak to wolf down?

“Definitely not, you’d need jaws of steel for that,” he said.

lTickets for the CHAS fundraising raffle are £1 for two at B.A. Kerrigan, 68 South Methven Street.