From golf to birthdays, marathons to music – celebrating some amazing fundraising
You probably already know that we rely entirely on fundraising to provide the services we do. The loyalty and generosity of our supporters is not something we’ll ever take for granted. But some people go an extra mile for us and this is a public thank you to all of them. Here are a few examples, including a couple of really simple ways to get involved if you’d like to.
A massive thank you to Vince and Sam from The Fighting Fitness Judo Club in Woking. This year they held their first ever golf day and decided to make Park Lane Stables the beneficiary after hearing about our work from mutual friends. The event on Friday 24 March was at the lovely Pyrford Lakes Golf Club in Surrey. It was sold out with 32 golfers, and the golf fees, donations and an excellent raffle raised a total of over £2,600!
Vince and Sam from Fighting Fitness Judo, with Lexy and one of our trustees, Ali.
Birthday fundraisers are both effective and simple. Just post your personal reasons for supporting us, and request a small donation in place of a birthday card or gift. It makes more people aware of what we do, and there’s definitely power in numbers. It’s easy to set up a GoFundMe or JustGiving page, set a modest target, and share with your friends.
Tom Allen is the father of 10 year old regular participant Beth. Back in January we featured his article about an epic challenge to run four marathons in four countries over just eight weeks to raise money for four charities helping the family meet the challenge of Beth’s complex needs. ‘I only have myself to blame if it hurts!’, he said then.
With three marathons under his belt his pain may be eased by knowing he now has ‘just’ one left to run, and that he’s raised an amazing £19,000 as at the end of April. Read The proud dad running four marathons in eight weeks and let’s get his finishing line over £20,000!
In late March we were picked to be the charity recipients of The Euphonix Community Choir’s lunchtime performance at the Rose Theatre in Kingston. The music was amazing and we raised nearly £800. A big thank you to Alan Parry and all the lovely Euphonix team for a very special event.
The Euphonix Community Choir at the Rose Theatre with Natalie and Philippa
Volunteer Cindy Platt is also President of Kingston Inner Wheel this year, and loves coming up with creative ideas for fundraising. Next month that includes a sponsored blindfolded pony ride with Park Lane’s Dan in Bushy Park to raise awareness for the challenges of being partially sighted. (We’re reliably informed that Cindy will be wearing the blindfold, not the pony.) With a month to go she’s already raised £500!
Easy Fundraising is one of the simplest ways to donate, because it doesn’t cost you anything. Simply register with them and when you buy goods or services with over 8,000 retailers they’ll donate to us on your behalf. Includes Amazon, eBay, John Lewis, Argos, M&S, Tesco, Booking.com …
Find out more about Easy Fundraising
A huge thank you to everyone involved in these amazing initiatives. And if any of these have inspired you to set up your own event, let us know. And we may just feature your story in a future article.