Here’s a quick whizz through 2014!
After a short breather at the beginning of the year, we
kicked off our 2014 fundraising year with the annual Great Daffodil Appeal
collections – both static boxes in local shops and businesses and manned
collections at local shopping locations.
Between these two activities, over £8,500 was collected – this represents
around half of our total income for the year and is a vital part of our fundraising.
Towards the end of the GDA, we borrowed an idea from another
Fundraising Group, which saw a number of our supporters knitting wonderful
daffodil pins. We will be bringing you
these in 2015, so do look out for them alongside the regular pin badges.
As you may know, we are the chosen charity of the wonderful PineRidge Golf Club in Frimley, and as such, we hold our main non-collection events
at this venue. We were looking to try
something a little different this year, and hit upon the combination of onesies
and the lovely woodland area which runs alongside the golf course and created
our first Hole in Onesie Walk. Amazingly,
in a weekend that was predominantly rainy, the hour that the event took place
was dry and mild and everyone had a great time – spurred on by the thought of a
bacon butty and a hot drink back in the club house.
In May we attended the Surrey Heath Show and in the same
weekend, 15 of us abseiled down the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth – what a way
to spend a Bank Holiday Monday!
June marked the start of Blooming Great Tea Party season and
we held another fantastically well supported community event at Pine Ridge, in
association with Camberley Mums. Once
again, the support of local businesses who gave their time and the people who
came along and generously spent their money, was very much appreciated.
The summer saw us attending a number of events with our
trusty gazebo and stall – Potley Hill School Fair, the Pine Ridge Beer Festival
(who won a Minion?!) and the Siemens Fun Day.
In September we bag packed in Sainsburys, with great support
once again from some of our younger supporters.
Soon it was Autumn and time for what has proven to be our
most popular event, in its third year in 2014 – Family Spookfest. This year we had so many excited families
pre-booking tickets that we had to move from the Baronial Hall to the Green
Room at Pine Ridge. Local businesses
supported the event by providing all sorts of activities for the children and
as always, Pine Ridge were the perfect hosts.
At the end of November, and 80s night, organised by our very
own Katie, took place and amidst the legwarmers and big hair, almost £1,000 was
raised in one night – fantastic!
We attended the two new events run by Pine Ridge – a Fireworks
night and a Christmas Panto – both brilliantly organised and we were delighted
to be invited to be there too.
We also managed to squeeze in a couple of collections at
Christmas – at The Meadows and The Mall – we hope to be back with more of these
for Christmas 2015.
It just leaves me to give you a sneaky preview of our most ambitious
project since we started our Group in late 2011. We are going to have a Field of Hope project
during 2015 – actually two locations – Frimley Lodge Park and St. Anne’s Church
grounds in Bagshot. We will invite local
people to purchase a bundle of daffodil bulbs to be planted at the location of
their choice in memory of someone, or just to support our cause. In the Autumn we will plant the bulbs and in
Spring 2016 we should see them flower for the first time. This really is going to be a big commitment for
us, so your support will be very welcome.
We hope to launch the Field of Hope bulb sponsoring in late February, so
look out for more information then.
So, thank you so much to everyone who has volunteered at
events and collections and to those who have donated and attended events. Thanks again to our friends at Pine Ridge Golf Course and for the ongoing support of the Surrey Heath Residents Network. Our grand total for the year is £17,263. This means that our total raised since
November 2011 is £48,651 – 2,432 hours of end-of-life care, which I think it is
fair to say we are all extremely proud of.
We look forward to your continued support in 2015.
Sharon
