A CLACKS woman was this week spreading some Easter joy at the local care home where her father is being looked after.

Sandra McGregor has donated an Easter egg for each of the 56 residents at Beechwood Park Nursing Home in Sauchie along with some home baking in a bid to bring some smiles to faces during the challenging Covid-19 lockdown.

Her 90-year-old father, popular Alloa man Hamish McGregor, is being looked after by the home's dedicated staff.

Sandra had been a regular visitor to the care home up until the lockdown measures came in and got to know many of the other residents within the unit as well.

However, while it is important to keep everyone safe by staying away, it has been a "disheartening" experience.

And so to bring some joy to all, Sandra decided to do something for Easter.

She said: "They look forward to you coming in for your wee visit, so it's been quite hard.

"I [used to take] my dog in, which was great too because he was therapeutic for the other residents and I'm a support worker myself."

Sandra, who turned 60 today (Wednesday, April 15) will miss out on celebrating the milestone with her dad and family.

It looks like it will be a similar situation for one of her sister's birthdays as well, but she at least wanted to bring some positivity for the Easter holiday.

Sandra added: "I know they are doing all they can within the home, it was to give them a bit of praise as well."

Hamish was a familiar face around Alloa's town centre, having been a frequent visitor to the Rock 'n' Rolls café, Boots chemists, the Poundland store and Aitken's butchers – all places where he loved to chat to all the staff.

He is well-known at St Mungo's RC Parish Church on Bedford Place as well.

Unfortunately, the father-of-six suffered a bad fall last year and is battling vascular dementia and Parkinson's disease.

Sandra said: "He was poorly at Christmas, but he has picked up again and he is looking marvellous – I saw him the day before the lockdown.

"Of course we can't go to see him [now], it's a wee bit disheartening."

She added: "The family are thinking of him at this time and we hope to see him soon, he is going to be 91 in July."