Welcome to the third Fundraising Update. My initial intention to produce one per month has due to circumstances beyond my control, turned into what amounts to a bi-monthly update. This will continue to be the case although, I hope that throughout next season the individual scheme figures will be updated on a much more regular (and consistent) basis!
Firstly a massive well done and thank you to the 40 walkers who started the unenviable task of walking 64 miles from Brighton to Brentford on Saturday 19 May, some forty years after the inaugural event! Amazingly over a quarter, eleven in total, completed the full distance! Below is a full list of the walkers starting with the very hardy eleven (in bold).
- Ian Mathis
- Ian Gilding
- Doug Collins
- Tom Lloyd
- Perry Richards
- Peter Maynard
- Dougie Waller
- Chris Tate
- Gary Evans
- Claire McNicholls
- Terry Good
- Dave Carter
- John Sandling
- David Enstone
- Rod Gowers
- Shane Baker
- Martin Hunt
- Keith MacInnes
- Nick Raue
- Natasha Judge
- Lou Boyd
- Toby Glynn
- Alan Jenkins
- Dean Spurndens
- Mandy Hook
- Liam Knight
- Chris Wickham
- Peter Atkinson
- Matt Tate
- Mark Knight
- Graham Birch
- Gary Kentish
- Alf Boulden
- Colin Thorbon
- Mark Weider
- Stephen Brent
- Gayle Sheldon
- Richard Smith
- Kris Allum
- Phil Turner
In addition I would like to extend my thanks to the support team of
- Chris Gammon
- John Anderson
- Rob Majory
- Claire Davies
- David Harrison
- Alan Gilding
- Russell Barker
- Jason Judge
They did a fantastic job and without them we would have been unable to undertake the walk. Further thanks should also be extended to General Mills for their donation of cereal bars, GSK for their donation which supplied all the Ribena and Lucozade required and BIAS for their kindly donation which ensured we were able to furnish each minibus with first aid supplies.
I have also since discovered that Theresa Scutchings walked over 20 miles, on her own over the same weekend, as she couldn't make the walk. She has also raised money for BU and CRY.
At the risk of running into Gwyneth Paltrow style thank yous, I also want to thank those that joined in the walk at later stages, Lesley and Ray Harrison and Peter Wickham amongst them. In addition Brian Burgess joined us on Saturday evening and walked approximately an 8 mile stretch before returning on Sunday to do a further 20 miles (two trips from Bushey Park!!) doing a sterling job keeping some of the walkers spirits up.
Lastly, (I promise!) a huge thank you to all of you who once again dug deep to support this walk. Although the primary focus was to remember the actions of those in 1967, I expect that once all sponsorship monies are collected the walkers with the help of their supporters will have raised in excess of £10,000. Of course this is a ’guesstimate’ but I will update you on a more precise figure as soon as possible.
Moving onto other things, the Build a Better Future scheme is well underway and although sales are not what we had hoped, they are steady and have now exceeded 80. These bricks will be mounted in the Braemar Road and New Road as previously indicated and we hope that this, combined with a good start to the new season will encourage greater growth. Nonetheless the revenue generated is in excess of £4000 although this of course is not net profit. Further updates on the Build a Better Future campaign will be given in due course. If you would like to purchase a brick forms can be downloaded here.
https://www.beesunited.org.uk/dmdocuments/babf_campiagn.pdf
SEASON TOTALS – BUCKET COLLECTIONS
The total raised this season from the bucket collections was £11,227, with £1,755.95 entirely donated to the Fighting Chance initiative. Whilst this is less than the previous 2 seasons, we have found that success on the pitch has a profound effect on the collections and thus, having suffered relegation and lacklustre performances the collections were adversely affected. However, £11,227, is a sizeable chunk and I extend my thanks to the bucket collectors and those who throw in their spare change!
Whilst I am tackling the subject of Bucket Collectors, Bryan Clarke a regular collector on the New Road, is hanging up his bucket (at least for now!), many, many thanks to Bryan for all his hard work, not only with the buckets but also the successful Jazz evenings too. We are, as ever, on the look out for volunteers to shake buckets, even if you can only help out sporadically I would love to hear from you. I can be contacted at the usual address.
ONGOING SCHEMES
There are a number of on-going schemes, that whilst still in existence are not used on as regular basis as we would like! These schemes include Bee Green, Text BEES, Shopping Portal, Bees United Investment Club and Collection Tins, therefore all will be re-launched over the initial few weeks of the 2007/8 season. Watch this space.
Sponsor a Striker has now reached its conclusion with Jo Kuffour being our top scorer with 14 goals. Letters should now have been received with instructions on how to pay your sponsorship monies. Anyone who needs further information should contact me at Natasha.judge@beesunited.org.uk
EASY FUNDRAISING
Still one of the easiest ways to make money for Bees United, without having to put your hand in your pocket! Easyfundraising has so far raised £879.30 with only 221 members. This is a really good initiative for all of you who already shop on-line, with 100’s of retailers already taking part and more joining each week, this could be a really successful fundraiser for Bees United. So if you are planning a summer holiday, looking for a short break, an unusual birthday present, flowers for the other half or a treat for yourself, please visit www.easyfundraising.org.uk/beesunited/ and register your cause as Bees United. They even do really boring stuff like insurance, credit cards and breakdown recovery!!
FUTURE EVENTS
There will be another of the fantastic General Knowledge Quiz nights hosted by Rod Gowers, in the Hive on Thursday 14th June. These nights are usually great fun, although the last time I entered my team finished an incredibly abysmal last! Further information can be found here https://www.beesunited.org.uk/content/view/285/
The plans to host a pool competition are still afoot and I hope to be able to update you more fully on that after our next fundraising meeting, which I hope to hold in the coming fortnight.
As ever, everyone is welcome and it would be fantastic to see everyone bursting with new ideas. Further details will be published shortly.
Natasha Judge