Category Archives: Charity Fundraising

Charity Fundraising, Events

24 Hour Charity Pianothon: Calling all Pianists!

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Our Charity of the Year Committee are organising an ambitious sponsored 24 hour ‘Pianothon’ from Saturday 5th October – Sunday 6th October, in aid of the ‘Every Drop Counts’ project in Teustepe, Nicaragua.

We are looking for piano players of any age and any ability to join in the fun and help us fill 24 hours with music of all types!  Did you learn piano as a child and could play a piece or two to fill 5 minutes? Are you a professional who could perform a short ‘concert’ slot in the afternoon or evening? Would you prefer an overnight slot when no one is listening?

Whilst we are predominantely looking for piano players, they can be accompanied by any other instrument or voice, as long as a piano is playing too.  And other keyboard instruments (organ, harpsichord, electronic keyboard) are welcome too.

If you would be willing to sign up for a slot of any length, please use the contact form below.  We will collect all offers in the next few months and pull them together into a full 24 hour programme in due course.

SIGN UP TO PLAY

During the 24 hour Pianothon we will be serving food and drink and encouraging people to come along at any time of the day and night to hear what’s going on.  There will be a number of ‘concert’ slots by some fantastic musicians.  Watch this space for more information!

Please do get in touch if you have any queries or feedback, or would like to volunteer for a slot or can suggest someone who might be willing to join in the fun.

You can also start sponsoring our pianists straight away, using our 24-hour Pianothon online sponsorship page:  https://www.justgiving.com/page/stmaryspianothon

Whether you are playing, sponsoring or just coming along to enjoy the music…. thank you so much for your support of this ambitious project!

Charity Fundraising

Sale of Talents for our Charity of the Year

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Our Charity of the Year Committee are launching an ongoing ‘Sale of Talents’  to run throughout 2024 in aid of ‘Every Drop Counts’, Nicaragua.

Do you have a talent, service or skill you could offer for sale, to raise money for our Charity of the Year?

It might be lawn mowing, clothes mending, car washing, baking, tuition in music, languages or anything else, loan of your holiday home, taxi services, dinner party catering or anything else you can think of – however small or large!

The Committee will collect your offers, advertise them for sale (either just within the St Mary’s Community or to the wider village, as you prefer), and then put you in touch with anyone who wishes to purchase your service.  It will be entirely up to you who and when you offer your service to, so you are not overwhelmed with customers if you don’t want to be!

How does it work?

Give, or email, information about your offer via the button below, and the Charity of the Year Committee will publicise it along with all offers at church and online.

Please supply a title, a brief overview of what is on offer, when and (if relevant) where you would be able to make this available, how much you would suggest as a minimum donation, your name and email address (see the noticeboard for examples). Please also indicate if you would be happy for your offer to be placed on the ‘Charity’ pages of the St Mary’s website (we won’t include your email address on the website).

offer a ‘talent’ for sale

It is entirely up to you if you wish to offer your ‘talent’ once or several times and you would, of course, be free to withdraw from the scheme at any time. Stephen Boffey and other members of the Charity of the Year Committee will be very happy to offer advice and support before and after you have made your offer.

We do hope you will be keen to take part in this project and will have a lot of fun doing it!

Our first offers are below to give you some ideas – if you would like to purchase any of these services please contact the below:

Talents for Sale

Holiday Spanish

Spain and its islands is one of the most popular destinations for British holidaymakers. Knowing something of the language can enrich your enjoyment of the experience and be of real practical value, especially if you venture away from the popular resorts.

Classes at mutually convenient times and locations.

Minimum donation £20 per 1 hour lesson. (No fixed number of lessons).

Offered by: Stephen Gell BA

enquire or purchase this offer

Restoration of old/damaged photographs

Do you have a treasured photograph that is the worse for wear? Working from the original print, slide or negative, defects such as dirt, cracks, stains and fading will be removed as far as possible, without losing important details, and a new print will be made.

Available at any time. Depending on the extent and type of damage the restored print should be ready within a week.

Minimum donation: £10

Offered by: Stephen Boffey LRPS

enquire or purchase this offer

Portrait or group photographs

Do you need a formal portrait for work, or a photograph of your family to frame and display or to send to relatives? Using professional equipment, in a location of your choice, I will capture the image you are looking for and will provide high quality prints up to A2 in size.

Time and place to be agreed, inside or out as appropriate.

Minimum donation: £30 for half an hour and two A4 prints; £60 for an hour and two A3 prints.

Offered by: Stephen Boffey LRPS

enquire or purchase this offer

GCSE English Language

Do you know anybody taking GCSE English language in 2025 or 2026? As a secondary school English teacher I am offering a ‘walking, talking mock’ of either, or both papers to a small group of motivated students.

Time: autumn 2024 to suit all participants, lasting two hours.

Place: in St Mary’s Church meeting room. I am DBS Certified to work with minors.

Minimum donation: £20 per student

Offered by: Helen Boffey

enquire or purchase this offer

Keep checking back to this page for more ‘Talents for Sale’ throughout the remainder of the year.

Thank you so much for your support of this initiative in aid of our Charity of the Year.

Please contact Stephen Boffey if you have any questions.

Charity Fundraising

Charity Plant Sale: Sunday 19th May, 1-5pm

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Our Charity of the Year committee are organising a Plant Sale in aid of ‘Every Drop Counts’ on Sunday 19th May (Pentecost Sunday), 1.00 – 5.00pm in the Churchyard.

Can you support us in either of the following ways, (or ideally both!)?

Could you bring along some plants to sell?

They can be any sort of plant of any size – flowers, vegetables or herbs. Cuttings or seedlings, large or small, anything you can spare!

Please bring plant donations to church on the morning of the sale, or contact us if you need someone to collect them or to drop them off earlier.

Could you come along to buy some plants?

Our congregation and young people have been busy growing seeds since Easter Sunday, and we hope there will be a wide variety of plants to buy.

There will be no fixed prices – donations towards our Charity of the Year, by card or cash.

Our Charity of the Year, ‘Every Drop Counts‘ will help communities in Teustepe in Nicaragua to grow crops in a difficult climate. We are aiming to raise £10,000 to help them install water-capture systems, provide training and drought-resistant crops to 7 rural communities.

Thank you for your generous support!