Macmillan Coffee Morning raises £1,700 for cancer care
A huge 'Thank you' to everyone who came along and supported our Macmillan Coffee Morning in September. We raised around £1,700 for Macmillan Cancer Support through the sale of tea/coffee, home made cakes and jigsaws (not home made), as well as a raffle and pub games. Additional thanks go to Lion Alastair Murray for organising the event, the Methodist Church for allowing us to use their premises and all the Lions and Rotary Club volunteers who baked so many delicious cakes and then helped to make it run so smoothly.
Community Garden Party is a blast!
The Southwell Community Garden Party on 25th June took place on a beautiful, sunny day at the Memorial Park. Organised by Southwell Town Council, the Garden party was supported by around 40 organisations - ranging from local charities and children's play groups to the ATC, community cultural and volunteering groups (that's us!), local businesses, NSDC and several caterers. There was also live music, maypole dancing and a wandering stiltwalker, who entertained children with balloon figures and giant soap bubbles. And hundreds of local residents, including many young families, who really enjoyed the day.
Although not strictly fundraising, we offered young and old alike the fun of trying their hand at traditional pub games - mini-golf, Shove Ha'penny, Table Skittles, Roll a Ball and Quoits. For just £1 to play all five games, players were competing to win £20 for the highest score of the day. The competition reached an exciting climax just minutes before the deadline, when Ian Baird-Smith scored 65 points, just one ahead of a player who had led for most of the day.
The Garden Party also gave us an opportunity to make contact with several groups and charities whom we haven't supported in the past or not for a long time, to discuss how we can work together in the future.
Thanks go to Bob Callow, Steve Scall and Alastair Murray for organising our stall and to Edwinstow Lions for lending us their games.
Get ready for the 2023 Duck Pluck!
Saturday, 13th May, saw an oversize duck lurking around Southwell Market when we were selling numbered ducks for our annual 'Duck Pluck'. This year, we are raising funds for the junior section of Farnsfield Tennis Club, to help them create and expand opportunities for disabled and disadvantaged youngsters to join in and enjoy the fun. Cash prizes will go to the holders of the winning numbers when they are drawn at the Tennis Club's open day on Saturday, 20th May by plucking three ducks from the pond!
Coronation quiz raises nearly £1,300
We were back at the Minster School on Friday, 12th May, for our annual spring quiz, when we raise funds to enable us to support individuals, charities, support groups, schools and sports clubs, among others. This year, it was dubbed the Coronation Quiz in tribute to the Coronation of King Charles III a week earlier.
Around 25 teams were pitted against each other, vieing for the coveted trophy over rounds as diverse as 'Let's go shopping' (not a popular round - far too difficult - won't happen again), 'That Sporting Life', 'I'll drink to that', Current Affairs, 'Where am I?' and the popular Connections round, featuring royal spouses and the cast of the Royle Family. Unfortunately, regular quiz master Graham Coulson was unavailable but stand-in quizmaster Peter Brooker made sure that Graham's place in future quizzes is not in danger! After a nail-biting recount, the Densa team was declared the winners.
Our thanks go Nick Turner and team behind the bar, Ian Gillings and Ian Edwards for their spells as question-master, to Steve Scall for organising the evening, the Minster team for setting up the hall and cleaning up after us and, above all, to everyone who came along, helping us to raise almost £1,300.