Fund Raising

We have been raising money through Webb Ivory for the Bell Restoration Fund for the past three years.  For those who do not know, Webb Ivory is available to people who wish to raise money for a chosen charity.  Any sales made via them qualify for a portion of that sale to go to the charity you specify, up to 25%; sometimes they give the option of purchasing specific items which will then give a greater percentage back.  Luckily we had quite a few of these last season, they are normally Christmas cards and sundry items, and luckily you were ordering the items on offer to me!

2004 was the best year so far!  Although the number of people ordering didn’t increase that much, the amount they spent did which therefore generated more profit.  A big thank you to everyone for ordering, being patient with their delivery and understanding when we had a couple of issues.

We made total sales of £1,399.03, which is excellent, and this has brought in a profit of £232.50.  You can only imagine the number of parcels and deliveries this generated, we certainly kept Royal Mail and Business Express busy!  Business Express was very cooperative.  They allowed me to collect a parcel from the Chesterfield depot, very early on the morning of the training day, which enabled us to pass on purchases to people that day.  I will ask my employers to kindly match the profit figure under their £ for £ scheme, if this happens we can donate in excess of £400 to the BRF.  Thank you.

I would like to mention the wonderful effort made by the ringers at Eckington, they had eight different people ordering and contributed £40.50 towards this donation.  Also special thanks to Brailsford, they had less people ordering but spent more money, and contributed £49.89.  Another tower, which contributed greatly, was Old Brampton, we thank them for contributing £33.60.  We still need more support.  All being well I will be doing this again in the autumn and I ask for your help in making our donation to the BRF even greater.  If you have any ideas, suggestions or comments about this venture I would love to hear them, please contact me.  I can be mailed at webbivory@derbyda.org.uk

Hopefully those who brought cards from us liked the new feature we introduced - thank you to Gill Hughes for suggesting this. Labels were produced for people to stick on the cards saying they were purchased for charity, i.e. the DDA BRF.  What did you think, should we do this again?

In 2003 we received £ for £ matching via other fund raising events we arranged.  This has meant the overall figure for 2003 was a lot greater than this year.  Due to the birth of Joshua we felt we couldn't get involved with any other fund raising.  Do you have a similar scheme to the above £ for £ from your company?  It's worth finding out.  Even if you do not wish to arrange anything for the Association, there is always your own tower.

Once again thanks for all your support and here is to a successful 2005.

M Elizabeth Cotton