Looking back at Experience Days’ Charitable 2018
- DEC 21, 2018
- Category : GUIDES
- WRITTEN BY: ALEX MULLEN
2018 has been an incredible year at Experience Days. From decadent afternoon teas in manor houses, to riding jet skis on Hove Lagoon, to getting our hands dirty at art classes, we’ve had plenty of fun. But what would a bit of play time be without some hard work to balance it out? That’s why we’re using the end of the year as an opportunity to take stock, and reflect on some of the things we’ve achieved in 2018. Here at Experience Days, we’re proud to support charities across the U.K., and it’s incredibly gratifying to hear about the difference our small donations have made to the efforts that these charities make on a daily basis.
We reached out to some of the charitable organisations we’ve worked with in 2018 to see how they’re getting on, how their work is impacting their cause, and to learn a bit more about their worthy organisations.
We caught up with the National Association of Special Educational Needs to learn more about the work they do, and to hear about their most recent awards ceremony, to which Experience Days donated a voucher as a raffle prize.
Tell us about your organisation.
nasen (National Association of Special Educational Needs) is a charity organisation who have been operating since 1992.
nasen is a membership organisation who support thousands of practitioners by providing relevant information, training and resources to enable staff to meet all pupils’ needs. Working with dedicated education professionals, their aim is to ensure that practice for special and additional needs is both effective and current.
Tell us about your awards ceremony.
Friday 19th October saw nasen host a special awards ceremony at the Waldorf Hilton Hotel, London in celebration of those who make a real difference to children and young people with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities).
The evening, which was hosted by celebrity guest Vanessa Feltz, saw nearly 200 guests come together to recognise and celebrate the fantastic work being done by individuals, schools, and organisations to ensure children and young people with SEND can go on to reach their full potential.
How did our donation help towards this event?
The £50 donation received from Experience Days was offered as a raffle prize during the evening, along with 5 other raffle prizes donated to us.
How much money did you raise during the event?
It total, through raffle prizes we raised approx. £800
How has this money impacted your organisation?
The money will help the charity to continue to support education professionals provide support to children and young people with special needs, so that they can go on to reach their full potential.
Time Products are a watch manufacturer in Leicester who recently held a Macmillan Coffee Morning and raffle, to which Experience Days donated a voucher as a prize. Macmillan Coffee Mornings are based on the simple concept of gathering for a cuppa with loved ones, but with a charitable twist. Guests pay for the coffee and cake in the form of a donation to Macmillan Cancer Support, raising money and enjoying each other’s company at the same time!
Tell us about your organisation and your most recent event.
We are Time Products (UK) Ltd based in Wigston Leicester, and every year we do a Macmillan Coffee Morning. To help raise extra money we always hold a raffle. Through the generosity of many wonderful businesses we are able to offer some amazing prizes. We held a cake sale, the raffle, guess the teddy bear name and a tuck shop, with all of this we managed to raise a total of £1000.12.
The kind donation from Experience Days proved to be one of our most sought-after prizes, which helped massively to increase raffle ticket sales. We really do appreciate any donation offered to such a good cause, and are extremely grateful for the donation. Our winner of the gift card was over the moon and has been browsing for her next adventure.
We spoke to Aberystwyth Cats Protection to hear about their online auction for the charity.
They had this to say about their cause:
Aberystwyth Cats Protection core aims are:
- Take in unwanted and abandoned cats, or those that need rehoming for various reasons, and match them with loving homes.
- Help those on low incomes, students and retired persons with the cost of neutering.
- Provide veterinary care for ill or injured stray cats who have no one to care from them.
- Arrange the neutering of feral colonies and we advertise lost and found cats from the local area, in the hope of reuniting them with their owners.
We raised vital funds by holding an online auction, to which businesses donated products/services and the highest bidder won. The auction was a month long, enabling people to follow the auction page previously before bidding began.
We massively appreciated your donation. It helped our auction to raise £801, which will allow us to meet our core aims and, predominantly, help many more cats in need.
We caught up with Refugee Compassion to learn more about the important work they do for refugees, and to hear about how their silent auction helped them with these efforts.
Tell us about your organisation and your most recent event.
Refugee Compassion is based in Aylesbury and works to help the refugees in France, elsewhere in Europe and the Middle East. As well as sending aid to a distribution warehouse in Calais, we organised collections and fundraising events to raise awareness of the refugee crisis. Our vision is simply to offer non-judgemental love and care to those in need, irrespective of how that came about.
How did our donation help towards your charity event?
The donation from Experience Days was included as part of our Silent Auction.
How much money did you raise during the event?
We raised a total of £3600 from our event.
How has this money impacted your organisation?
The money from the event will be used to purchase aid for those in need in France, Greece and Syria.
We asked Deer Park Archers, the largest archery club in the U.K., some questions about their organisation and how the money donated to their awards evening helped fund their club, so they can continue to make the unique sport of archery accessible for everyone.
Tell us about your organisation and your most recent event.
Deer Park Archers are the largest Archery Club in the UK. We are a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, a clubmarked community amateur sports club, and a registered environmental body dedicated to being inclusive and affordable. We have many archers just happy to hit the target, but also many UK Champions, and even European and World Champions!
Our most recent event was a club annual awards evening, dedicated to celebrating our 2018 achievements both on and off the field of play. It was also celebrating the completion of our new clubhouse / training centre. Our efforts to raise funds to achieve this has left us with the further challenge of raising more money to purchase internal fixtures, fittings and furniture. One of the highlights of the evening was to draw the winners from our raffle, which was made up entirely of prizes donated by local businesses. Your generous donation was one of these. Amazingly, we made a profit of £2,100, which far exceeded our expectations, very much due to the great prizes we were able to offer.
This is our new clubhouse and training centre:
One of our many National Champions who will benefit greatly from improved facilities:
RSPCA Halifax, Huddersfield Bradford & District Branch recently held a Halloween Monster Ball to raise money for their animal centre, and Experience Days donated a voucher as a prize. Two months after the event, we caught up with them to see how it went, and how the money raised will assist them in their ongoing campaign for animal welfare.
Tell us about your organisation and your most recent event.
The RSPCA Halifax, Huddersfield Bradford & District Branch are a self-funding branch of the RSPCA responsible for raising money locally to support our animal welfare work.
Our main aim is to rehabilitate unwanted, abandoned and abused animals and find them loving, permanent homes. We rely on public donations and the generosity of our local community to keep the doors of our animal centre open.
Our most recent large scale event was our Halloween Monster Ball, a fun-filled evening of spooktastic entertainment, fun and games for our supporters, raising funds to help keep the doors of our Animal Centre open!
How did our donation help towards your charity event?
Experience Days’ kind donation helped us to generate more funds by adding a luxurious prize to our on-the-night raffle. We raised just under £500 on the raffle alone, and we simply couldn't have done this without the kind help of Experience Days!
How much money did you raise during the event?
We're delighted to announce that we raised just under £2000 at our Monster Ball, which was a brilliant result for our local RSPCA centre.
How has this money impacted your organisation?
This amazing amount of money raised helps us to continue the vital animal welfare work we do and continue to care / feed / treat and provide shelter to countless animals in need in our local area.
We spoke to Northleigh House School to hear about how their Christmas Fare went, and how the donations to this fare will aid them in extending the school.
They had this to say about their school:
Our Christmas Fair took place on Saturday 1st December at the school, and we raised £1330 in total on the day. Your voucher featured in our raffle, which is always eagerly anticipated! The proceeds of the fair will go towards our fundraising to try to extend the school, as we are now hoping to have places available for primary school aged children. Already we have a waiting list for September 2019, and our school is now bursting at the seams.
Leicester Medics Revue spoke to us following their most recent event, a Christmas show held to raise money for important research into brain tumours.
Tell us about your organisation and your most recent event.
Our society Leicester Medics Revue is one of the medical school’s student societies, and our main purpose is to raise money for charity through comedy. Our most recent event was our annual Christmas show, this year called ‘Back to the Suture’.
How did our donation help towards your charity event?
Your donation was used as a prize for the charity raffle that we traditionally run along with the show. It was definitely a key component that helped us achieve and exceed our fundraising goal since it was one of the biggest prizes and a big incentive to most people who took part in the raffle.
How much money did you raise during the event?
Between the show tickets sales and raffle tickets and donations we raised a grand total of £733.94!
How has this money impacted your organisation?
The money was given to the Brain Tumour charity and will hopefully contribute to improving the long term survival rates of many people affected by brain tumours, as we were told by the charity it will cover three days of research (which doesn’t seem much, but will hopefully help make a difference).
Thanks so much to the organisations who spoke to us for this article, and to all the fantastic charities we have worked with this year. 2018 has been an incredible year, and we’d like to wish all the charities the best of luck with their work in 2019! From all of us here at Experience Days, merry Christmas and a happy new year.
