Spectacular start in September

So, after our 'quiet' summer (see previous post!) we have made a great start in September, with two events.


On 14 September we attended the Siemens Fun Day.  We got to use Gertie gazebo for the first time!  We sold cakes, pick and mix sweets, temporary tattoos and had free bracelet making and daffodil making.
Despite the drizzle of the day, people were not put off, and in fact were glad to stand under Gertie to keep dry.  We raised £138.  Thanks to our helpers that day, it was a great team effort.

The following Saturday we were at Asda, Farnborough.  We had been invited to hold a bag packing day there after we won their Community Life (green tokens) scheme earlier in the year. 

With loads of support from our children (sorry, young people), supporters and friends, we had a hugely successful day and raised £727 in six hours.

Our next event will be the return of Family Spookfest on Sunday 27 October, 4-7pm at Pine Ridge Golf Course.

Thank you everyone - just look at all those happy faces! ♥

Summer funtime

At the end of June we attended a very wet and windy event at Pine Ridge Golf Centre (our 'home') - their first, and very successful Beer Festival.  After trying to hold down and gazebo intent on escape, we moved into the beer tent and continued our tombola, which took £165.

In mid-July we were invited to hold a weekend collection in Superdrug, Camberley, as part of Superdrugs support for Marie Curie Cancer Care as their charity for 2013.  Across the two (very hot) days we collected £145 and Rachael, who works in the store, painted nails with all profits to Marie Curie, raising a further £109.  If you'd like one of the specially commissioned silver daffodil pins - they are available only from Superdrug - so hurry while stocks last :-)



© Paul Deach

At the end of July we were invited to attend a charity day at the White Lion in Yateley.  Unfortunately we were unable to get anybody over there as it was the first weekend of the school holidays.  However, a kind regular held a stall on our behalf and took £115!

We were thrilled to be on the Waitrose Community Matters (green token) scheme during August and I was staggered when the lady there called me in September to say we had the highest number of tokens and that a cheque for £570 would soon be heading our way.

Maybe, for me (sad but true), the most exciting thing during the summer was the arrival of our lovely new branded gazebo.  MCCC do not have resources to supply these to every Fundraising Group, and the one gazebo they do have is a domestic one (which we nearly lost at the Beer Festival).  Thanks to an individual sponsor, who wishes to remain anonymous, we were able to purchase a commercial quality gazebo, complete with name banner, which as you will see from the next blog, made its first appearance at the Siemens Fun Day.  We have also offered to lend this out to local MCCC Fundraising Groups, which we have already done with the Windsor FG.

A gazebo named Gertie

Finally, to complete our new swish look, I have just this week received a cheque for a grant from the Frimley Fuel Allotments charity to pay for three new folding tables (commercial quality) instead of using my own rather feeble ones.  Happy days!

So, I had started off by thinking I would say what a quiet summer we'd had, but looking back, that wasn't the case at all!  Thanks to everyone who has helped by supporting these events.

Blooming Great Tea Party 2013

We were delighted to once again be invited to hold our Blooming Great Tea Party at Pine Ridge Golf Course.  This year, we invited Camberley Mummies to partner with us on this event.

Once again, the support of the community was fantastic.  All our wonderful cakes were donated by professional cake-makers and keen amateurs, which made for a very impressive selection of mouth-watering goodies which were key to the success of the day.

We also held a Tea and Cakes themed raffle and a 'Name the Teddy Bears' competition.  Linda, one of our volunteers, also contributed some great toddler-friendly lunches and mini cakes, which were very much appreciated by the Mums there.

Pine Ridge organised for a bouncy ball pit to be available and we were joined by Red Door Photography who put up their photo booth and donated all monies from prints to us.  Surrey Performing Arts kept the little ones amused and Little Faces make them look beautiful!

We welcomed stallholders, all of whom are members of the Camberley Mummies business directory, as well as two beauticians/nail technicians, who all helped add to the community atmosphere of the day.

Heidi Kilgariff of Heidi's Heart Pillow Project also joined us, she is spearheading a project to encourage people to make heart pillows for use by breast surgery patients at Frimley Park Hospital.  The pillows are used under the arm to give relief to the areas of surgery.

With many thanks to Pine Ridge for having us once again, and supplying copious amounts of tea and coffee and to the Surrey Heath Residents Network for assisting with promoting the event.

We raised £366 in three hours!

Surrey Heath Show 2013

The week running up to the Surrey Heath Show was glorious, just the weather we needed to see after last year's show was cancelled due to water logging of the fields.  But when we arrived at 8.30am on Saturday, not only was it chilly, overcast and windy, it was raining too - boooo!

But we forged ahead, and between myself, Charmaine and Linda, we got the gazebo up and everything beneath it ready to go in time for the 10am opening.

After a slow start (people waiting for the weather to pick up probably), by lunchtime it was heaving with people and our tombola and tea cup guess game, plus Linda's homemade cakes and bags were going well. 

We were also pleased to welcome lots of children in to take part in our free bracelet making and daffodil craft.  Hopefully we've encouraged a few people to hold their own Blooming Great Tea party this June/July as a result.

By the afternoon, the sun was shining and before we knew it, 4pm came around and it was time to pack away. 

Thank you to all our helpers during the day - Charmaine, Linda, Helen, Katie, James and Clare and to everyone who supported our stall.

See more photo's from our day at www.facebook.com/mariecuriecamberley.

For anyone interested in how many tea bags there WERE in the cup - it was 579!

SKINNY DIPPING FOR MARIE CURIE!

Seven brave (i.e. crazy) ladies from Camberley will be braving the chilly sea of the South coast on 2 June to take part in the official Marie Curie Event - Dorset Skinny Dip.  Please sponsor us if you can!

https://www.justgiving.com/theallrounders1

Coverage in Shine On supplement

Thought you might like to see this.  It's from the South East regional supplement that goes out to supporters with the national Shine On magazine from Marie Curie.

Great Daffodil Appeal collections 2013

We have now had our locations and dates confirmed for the 2013 Great Daffodil Appeal.  If you can help on any of these days, please email: camberleymariecurie@hotmail.co.uk.  Many thanks.

Longacres - Sat 2 March, 9-5

 Longacres - Sun 3 March, 10.30-4.30

 Meadows - Fri 8 March, 10-4

 Meadows - Sat 9 March, 9-5

 Frimley - Sat 9 March, 10-2

 The Mall - Sat 9 March, 10-4

 Sainsburys Watchmoor - Fri 29 March (Good Fri), 10-4

 Sainsburys Watchmoor - Sat 30 March, 9-5