At the beginning of the summer holidays a little girl, 11 years old, died. She was in my son’s year at school and had been fighting against her illness for about a year. Many of her school friends attended her funeral. It was a very emotional time. It was heart-wrenching to watch her family that day, going through the formal ceremony to say good-bye to their beloved daughter, sister and grandchild. I have two children of my own. I cannot imagine what it would be like to loose either of them. It would be like, like………. watching your innards being removed. Many of the mothers present at C’s funeral were struggling to hold it together.
That night I thought something must be done to harness the emotion that welled up in the church that day. Something must be done to help those families that are going through what C and her family have been through. I decided to raise some money for a suitable charity. I searched the web and found http://www.charitychallenge.com/ . I would support a charity associated with the treatment of brain tumours.
Walking up Kilimanjaro, or trekking up to Everest Base Camp would be exciting, but a huge, huge challenge. The trouble is, I am a bit of a blob. I’d have to work exceedingly hard to get myself fit enough to do such a feat. It would take 18 months to 2 years to loose the necessary weight and get fit enough for the challenge. But this wouldn’t raise much money in the meantime, so with the advice from a friend who thought such challenges were mighty too adventurous, I have set about organising a charity ball. I have gathered together a committee of friends with all sorts of experience behind them and we meet in September to start planning the event.
This blog will log our progress in planning and executing the ball and our personal progress towards our goal of raising £10,000. You are welcome to keep coming back to this page to see how I and my friends get on with our task. If it helps you with your own charity fundraising I am glad. It will also show, probably, what not to do. If you can give us some advice on how to organise a ball, do contact me. If you can give us some encouragement, that would be good too.
Natalie Miller, whose ideas it was.
How I set about raising money for a cancer charity. My fundraising ideas and how my friends and I set about our task. How we achieved our targets and information on how to organise a Charity Ball.
Ball Date
The Glitz and The Glamour Ball will be held at Hangar One, Sywell Aerodrome, Sywell, Northampton on Saturday 17th November, 2007. Tickets are £50 a head with 10 people to a table. To buy yours and ones for your friends, contact Sue Whatton by emailing via the link or telephoning 01604 864030.
About Us
- The Glitz and Glamour Ball Committee
- We are a group of parents who have set up a committee to organise a Charity Ball in aid of the SDBTT Claire Rowland fund. We are: Natalie Miller, Sue Bull, Jo Chapman, Jo Bigsby, Tony Rowland, Sue Whatton, Andy Waller, Liz Bates, Julia Shepherd.
Claire Rowland
1 comment:
There has been lots going on over the months that Natalie got us together and we formed the Glitz and the Glamour Ball Committee to raise awareness and much needed funds for the SDBTT. I was put in charge of press and publicity.
I was delighted when the Evening Telegraph took up the gauntlet and travelled to London with Tony and Julie Rowland to cover the 10th anniversary story of the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust. the ET reporter has become great friends of Julie and Tony and we are grateful to the newspaper for their regular articles.
Our next fund raiser is the Waendel Walk which takes place over the weekend of 11th, 12th and 13th May. We are hoping to get as many of Claire's friends as we can to get themselves sponsored and take part in the event. We have hit a bit of a brick wall with this at the moment mainly due to the school holidays, but they are all back to school on Monday 16th April so we must now go for the big push.
I get a real thrill when I see articles in the local press but then feel guilty. I find the only way I can help is by treating the fund raising as a job otherwise its just all too sad.
When I have a quiet moment, I sit and listen to one of the hymns that was sung at Claire's funeral, Here I Am Lord. I downloaded it after the funeral. I am not that religious but it is such a lovely song and the words say it all I think I have a few tears and think of Claire and then I can carry on because if something good can come out of something so terribly sad then I must do something to help raise awareness and funds. Claire was such a lovely little girl who had so much to live for. She also had a loving and supportive family and how they bear their loss with such dignity and carry on with their day to day life needs such strength of character.
Anyway thats the sad stuff done and my heart on my sleeve, moving swiftly on. I was over the moon that the Wellingborough Carnival agreed to support the SDBTT - Claire Rowland Fund as their 2007 Charity. Carnival Day is on Saturday 7th July so lets hope for a good day.
Other success stories so far have been an article in the Barton Today so thanks to Colin for that.
I intend to keep drip feeding the press on a monthly basis with articles until the summer months when I will go into overdrive to push the ticket sales.
I have bombarded the local websites with information on the Glitz and Glamour Ball and hope to get some articles in the local glossy magazines. So watch this space!
My next task is to spread the word about the Glitz and Glamour Ball outside Northamptonshire.
Just before I sign off I am thrilled that Stephanie Benson who is an International Cabaret star will be performing at the Ball. I heard her sing at a Convention I went to with work she is fantastic. I thought it was Diana Ross walking in she sang and looked just like her in her early years. I can't wait!
We are listening to a band on the 18th April so fingers crossed they will fit the bill and we will have our line up for the night.
Sue B. 14.4.07
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