A charity working with some of the poorest people in the world has raised £3.4 million in its Lent appeal - three times more than the previous highest amount.
The Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (Sciaf) Wee Box appeal sees those taking part give up a favourite treat like coffee or chocolate for the 40 days of Lent while putting the money saved in a Wee Box.
Schools, parishes and individual supporters raised £1.7 million but the appeal received UK Aid Match funding which means every pound received is doubled by the UK Government.
Baroness Verma of the Department for International Development visited the charity's offices in Glasgow to hear about how the money raised will help women farmers in Africa.
She said: "Sciaf may be a smaller charity but they are making a massive difference to the lives of people in some of the world's poorest countries. They are a fantastic example of the immense contribution Scotland is making to the UK's international development effort and what we can achieve working together."
Singer Susan Boyle helped to launch the appeal earlier this year, with the help of X Factor finalist Nicholas McDonald and broadcaster Kaye Adams.
Boyle said: "This is an amazing result - beyond our wildest dreams. When I helped to launch the appeal in February I thought it would do really well but I'd no idea it would be this successful.
"It's really fantastic that people have taken Sciaf's Wee Box appeal to their hearts and given so generously.
"Many more people who are hungry and poor will now get the help they need to improve the lives and have a better future."
The money raised by the appeal will help women farmers in Malawi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo to grow more food, earn money to support their children, and play an active part in their communities, as well as helping other poor people around the world.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here