Successes
President's Report September 2008
So far this has been a very successful year
for the branch. The year started with a visit to the panto and a
great day was had by a group of 90 adults and children
who enjoyed the performance of Sleeping Beauty in the King’s
theatre. Our first serious thought of the year was for the sick
children who had to spend their Christmas in hospital; this spurned
us on to our collection in Braehead shopping centre which raised
£1290 for Yorkhill Children’s Foundation. Our next big success was
when we competed with the other branches in the Scottish Region
annual quiz on 20th April in Perth. We
entered our adult team of four and a junior team of three (one
short) and after a hard fought competition, our teams did well with
the adult team regaining the winner's trophy and the junior team
coming second. This annual Quiz is a great family day out and for
competitors and supporters is great fun. Think about joining us
next year and consider being part of the team (we need more juniors
age 8 to 15) or just lend your support and have a good day out. The
next big event was the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. We were lucky as
this was one of the better sunny dry days in August and for those
that went through to Edinburgh early the fringe shows were great
fun and the Tattoo at night rounded off a magnificent day with a
fantastic performance.
On 24th August we sponsored CLIC
Sargent in the zip slide across the River Clyde to raise funds for
children with cancer. This was a very busy day for our volunteers
in the registration tent as 168 fearless zip sliders came to take
part. The minimum they were asked to raise was £100, but many put
in a great effort and managed to get much more than this. It
was great to see the high spirits of the contestants and their
supporters many dressed up in comical costume. One very brave
limbless man left his wheelchair and had a go on the zip slide. The
whole event raised a magnificent £31,500 and another great day was
had. Our volunteers set out again for a further
collection in August to benefit the children in Yorkhill Hospital
and at this we raised £753 which will go towards our final
total for the year. Our last two collections for the year
will be in Central Station on Saturday 8th November for
Scottish Poppy and Braehead on Sunday 7th December for
Yorkhill. If you can spare a couple of hours to help us on
either or both days you will find it a rewarding experience (no age
barrier).
The many other events in the newsletter i.e.
Mothers day, Fathers day, theatre nights and Sunday lunches are
always enjoyed, but we can cope with more people attending, so for
members and friends please do come along and enjoy a good occasion
at much reduced prices and in good company.
If you dare, join us on Saturday 22 November
for a three course dinner in the haunted Cathedral House Hotel.
During the dinner a 17th century murder will be
re-enacted in period costume. All you have to do is take a careful
view of your surroundings and see if you can decide “who
dunnit”.
We will soon be planning our events
for 2009 so if you can think of an event you would like us to
consider please let the President know about it. Also in
December 2009 the present officers are due to stand down. We would
like to see new younger blood coming to our meetings with a view to
giving some input with new ideas, so please think about it, and
come along to our monthly meetings held in the West Park Hotel on
the third Tuesday of the month to see how we operate. We are a
friendly group and you will be made welcome.
Bumper Year for our Charities!!!
"We have had a magnificent year
supporting many worthwhile charities" says Branch President Duncan
Kelly, "I owe a great deal of thanks to those who turn out to help
us collect at Braehead and Clydebank shopping centres and
others".
Everyone who helps say they enjoy themselves and it gives them a
great feeling of satisfaction and achievement. We can always
fit in more helpers so why not try it, age is no barrier.
The charities that benefited from our efforts in 2007 are:
Yorkhill Children's
Foundation
£6250.00
Leukaemia Research
Fund
£3633.75
Scottish Poppy - Earl Haig
Fund
£2571.74
Children's Hospice Association
Scotland
£1950.00
Linn Park Trust - Special Needs
School
£500.00
CLIC Sargent - Children with
Leukaemia
£400.00
Christian
Aid
£350.00
Foresters Flood Victims &
Benevolence
£250.00
Grand
Total
£15885.49
Blooming Marvellous!!!
Scottish Poppy Collection 2007
Last year’s Scottish Poppy collection at Glasgow Central Station
took place on 10 November 2007. Hundreds of travellers pass
through the station daily and we raised £2,250.00 from the public,
who were very pleasant and happy to see and talk to our
collectors. Let’s see if we can beat this total in 2008!
Charity Collection for Yorkhill Children’s Foundation
We held bucket collections on 16 August and
7 December 2007 at Clyde Shopping Centre and Braehead shopping
Centre to raise funds for Yorkhill Children’s Foundation.
In the last two years we have raised over
£12,250 and purchased an incubator for premature babies and helped
make a stay in hospital a wee bit better for sick kids and
families.