From Gail Nelson, Club President
As everyone probably knows we are going to need to get ourselves a new pitch in the fairly near future. This is going to cost around £180,000 and we think we are going to need to raise about 20%, or £36,000 ourselves. That equates to something like £180 for each member of the club, including the Kobras.
To raise this kind of money is going to require a massive effort from everyone in the club.
A fundraising committee has been appointed: Gurdial Duhre, Richard Savage, Kirsty Dunn and Beth Robinson. Some fundraising activity has already started - we held a bake sale at the last Kobras tournament, there was a raffle at the Inaugural Dinner and the ladies did some more baking for the recent Over-35s district tournament as well as holding a quiz night. This means we have raised something over £1000 so far. That's represented by the little green square at the bottom of the pitch opposite. £36,000 will take us most of the way to the 23-metre line.
It's a start, but there's a long way to go.
At the first fundraising committee meeting, we came up with quite a few ideas, but we could certainly use some more, so I thought we'd take this opportunity to throw it open to the floor.
How are we going to raise another £35,000? (And yes, the idea of everyone taking their clothes off for a calendar has already been mooted.)
In the autumn our focus will be on members raising money for the club, but while everyone is away over the summer the Fundraising Team will still be working away, trying to raise money from the local business community. This is where we need you to pitch in and help us.
Do you have contacts in the local business community? Can you speak to your employer on our behalf? Perhaps your employer has a charitable giving scheme that we can tap into (funds can be sent to the KGV Management Committee, the charity that is our partner in this project, enabling us to claim Gift Aid). Do you have friends or family who can help? We are not just looking for donations, but intend to offer sponsorship opportunities too. Do you know someone who might like to get involved.
Give us your ideas, give us your time, give us your enthusiasm.
We need everyone to pitch in. Let's get started now.