The Fundraising Page

December 2004:

Great Paxton FC relies heavily on fund raising to bring in money for the Club, these are for different things, like equipment for the players, help player's subs be reduced, and improvements to the Clubhouse and also for things like Floodlights. All these areas will help the club improve in one way or another.

Our future plans at present are to get floodlights in order to help the 1^st team be able to gain promotion, but also to help improve the Rec Ground facilities and hopefully more events etc will be able to take place down at the Rec Ground.

With the Committee finally getting settled and learning the ropes, we have put some ideas into practice to get the fundraising part of the club going again. Especially with the help of the new Sponsorship/Fundraising Secretary, Emma Lovelock.

DARTS NIGHT

Our first big night was the darts night on the 19^th November held at The Bell in Great Paxton. Smit, the Football Clubs supposedly star darts player, helped organise this event, with all players asked to join in and play against The Bell Customers.

It was not going to be a huge event, but we managed to get 10 players in each team, which was just enough, as time soon passed by, with the games going on for some time, especially Emma v Lisa – this one seemed to last for hours!!!

We charged an entry fee, plus silly fines throughout the games. It was a brilliant night, especially as The Football Club won 6-4. All down to the Chairman, Andy, winning his games!!! I was told to say that!!!

We raised £167 in total, after paying out our costs. The winning team have received a trophy, and this will now be an annual event. The highest male scorer received a jug of beer and the winning female received a bottle of wine!! These winners were Dave Clark for the men, and Lisa Lovelock for the females!! Well done.

Thanks to Diane for allowing us to hold the event in the Pub, and thank you to all those that participated.

GREAT PAXTON FC CHARITY AUCTION 4^th DECEMBER 2004

This was to be the biggest night in the Clubs history in terms of fundraising. We decided to hold this event under the watchful eye of Emma. She brought the idea to a committee meeting as she had held these events before, and it seemed like something that could be great fun – we let her go ahead and organise it. The Bell again allowed us to hold it there at no cost to the club, so off to work Emma went.

Hundreds of letters were sent to Football Clubs, soap sets, TV Dramas, etc, you name it, Emma wrote to them.

At first replies were slow, but as the night approached, her and her mum were having great fun opening the parcels, it was like a birthday and Christmas all at once, but she couldn't get to keep anything!!!

Leaflets were put out through doors in the village, posters put up around St Neots, the Offords and Huntingdon, we were really making an effort with this event to get as many people there as possible. Whilst this was going on Emma was still receiving gifts, but also refusal letters. This was to be expected.

A week before the night, we had loads, not as much as Em had thought, but in our eyes it was enough to get the ball rolling – we had enough to make a few hundred pounds.

We were going to do some player sponsors also, and if bought for over £10 they had to do chores for 2 hours for their buyer!!!

It looked set to be a great night!!!

It was absolutely brilliant, the pub was full, a number of players turned up along with the committee. Around £750 was raised, plus we had donations on the night from Ken Churchill for a 45 minute massage bought by ex player Lee Clutterbuck, Tune Up Charlie donated a service worth £55, which was bought by Matt Plumb, and Mark Peckham donated £1500 worth of training lights, which were bought by Ken Churchill for the club for £200.

Players were bought by the bidders, with Conners going for the most in the end, but not to his mum, who really tried to win him, probably to make him do some cleaning round the house!!!

Rachael Martin bought Darren Blackhall and he will be washing my car in the very near future, not that he knows that yet. All players that attended were sponsored, so thank you to the players, and to the buyers!!! Your names will be in the next programme issue.

An absolutely superb night, and again we will hold another event like this is the near future. Thanks to everyone, especially Emma. A lot of hard work put into this, but a great reward at the end.

A list of all the items available and buyers can be seen below, plus a list of players and their sponsors.

Many Thanks to all on behalf of Great Paxton FC.

The next fundraising night is already booked for the 5^th March where we are holding a "Night at the Races" with Mark Jordan. This will be held at The Bell and should be another good night.

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