Our Business Support Executive, Kirsty , is a keen fundraiser for Leeds Children’s Hospital. Following the TK charity run in July, her next project was to organise a charity Fun Day to accompany the Jarose Bowl Cup rugby match where her husband’s team, Bramley Phoenix , played West Leeds. Read all about it in Kirsty’s very first Turn Key blog post…
So today was the big day… Bramley Phoenix were hosting the Jarose Bowl cup against West Leeds to raise money for the Leeds Children’s Hospital Appeal , a charity that’s very close to our hearts. West Leeds won last year so Bramley were determined to bring it home this time! My hubby Adam and our friends all play for Bramley so we had plenty of volunteers helping to organise the event.
The first thing we did when we woke up was open the curtains to check the weather and, to our delight, it wasn’t raining! It was all hands on deck as we arrived at the clubhouse to set up for the day. Jacqui from the charity arrived soon after with banners, balloons and most importantly Mr Ted, the hospital’s mascot! My mum and step dad (our babysitters) touched down soon afterwards to take care of my daughter Lacey whilst I mucked in and Adam prepared for the game.
Mr Ted accompanied my sister Sarah and friend Kim on the gate and we were overwhelmed with the support and donations we received. I’m not sure whether this was down to Mr Ted posing for photos in return or the girls working their magic! Taxi drivers were even dropping people off at the gates and throwing notes into our buckets!
The stalls were all good to go, bouncy castle in position and cupcakes at the ready for when the gates opened at 1pm. The under 9s played first before the main game kicked off at 3pm. From then on, the raffle tickets were being bought in bundles and the alcohol was flowing. I didn’t get to see much of the game but a big crowd had gathered and I was very happy to see everyone enjoying it. The outside BBQ and bottle stall went down a treat, especially now the sun was belting down. Bramley played really well but in the end just couldn’t beat West Leeds who won 32-24 and took the trophy home, again!
Straight after the game we had our main feature – the sponsored head shave. Four of the Bramley players, including Adam, had their heads shaved in the middle of the pitch in front of everyone. I had insisted on blade one so I’m sure you can imagine how mortified I was to see my hairdressing friend role the razor over his head with no blade giving him a very close shave!
Once the stalls were packed away, the lads had changed and the trophy presentation had been completed, the DJ arrived for us to party the night away and celebrate such a fantastic day of rugby and fundraising. The auction alone raised nearly £600 on four signed rugby shirts.
Overall it couldn’t have been a better day, the weather was perfect, we had such a big turn out and we raised over £2,350 for Leeds Children’s Hospital. OK, Bramley should have won… but there’s always next year!