LOCAL COMPANIES RAISE THOUSANDS FOR EAST CHESHIRE HOSPICE
By Doug Skelton
6 months ago, we launched a plan to combine Intersafety‘s charity efforts with The Cinema Show, a music project I’ve been working on for several years, to raise funds for East Cheshire Hospice. The idea was seemingly simple: put together a nostalgic audio-visual performance based on a period of history that would inspire the audience: the 1980s. In doing so, we set ourselves a fundraising target of £3000 for the Hospice. We then asked ourselves the question: “how on earth are we going to pull this off?”
Somewhere down the line, £3000 turned into £5000 with the aim of selling 120 tickets for the event – a feat we had never previously achieved. And this was all before we’d even booked the venue.
RICHARD AND THE CHRISTMAS TREE COLLECTION
Last January Tony and I agreed to take part in the annual ECH Christmas Tree Collection, organised by Richard Raymond and Pete Chapman. Upon meeting Richard we introduced our abstract idea for later in the year, and his enthusiasm matched that of a Top of the Pops studio dancer.
From then on, the project was adopted as Intersafety’s official co-sponsored corporate fundraiser, with Richard relaying our progress to the Hospice. He also contacted everyone involved in the CTC, encouraging them to get involved.
THE RUN-UP
What followed was several months of intense preparation and fundraising, where Tony took charge of contacting numerous local customers and larger suppliers, asking if they’d like to support the project. We were absolutely staggered by the number of businesses who answered the call, enabling us to surpass the target several weeks before the show. With the combination of Intersafety contacts, social media, Richard’s promotions and the Hospice, we began selling tickets at a rapid rate. In particular, I wish to thank Sarah Dale for mobilising several ECH staff members to attend. I’m thrilled that we were able to sell 184 tickets in total.
Suddenly the project had an air of professionalism, as we assembled a programme including adverts from the 22 businesses who became a part of the effort. They are detailed below:
THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING CUSTOMERS...
...AND THE FOLLOWING SUPPLIERS.
THE SHOW
Returning to The Cinema Show’s regular venue at MADS Theatre, the night soon came around. Nerves jangling, I had the realisation that we were still only amateurs, who wanted to bring the community together for one of the biggest music fundraisers in Macclesfield, for a great cause. Contrary to my expectations, everything went according to plan and the night was an enormous success. I watched afterwards as the audience willingly donated to the cause, having witnessed a show featuring footage of Live Aid, MTV, Pacman and even an 80s fashion catwalk. I am extremely grateful to everyone who attended on the night, and I thoroughly hope you enjoyed the nostalgic trip through the 1980s. The team looks forward to welcoming you all to future events of a similar nature.
One of the many lessons we’ve taken away is that there is an untapped potential for local, small companies to collaborate through fundraising. The programme (left) featured adverts from all the event sponsors, demonstrating the opportunities for smaller companies to get involved in events. Needless to say, the Intersafety team fully intends to do something like this again… though perhaps after a short break.