In this guest blog our Volunteer Evelyn explains the planning process behind her second successful Ceilidh. The Ceilidh was a huge success, and we are really grateful to Evelyn and all of her supporters. It sounded a great night!
Planning the fundraiser for the second year started about 8 or 9 months before. This is said loosely, as it all starts with ideas and conversations about how much fun we had the previous year.
A ceilidh is a great night for many reasons. Traditionally it is known for informal music and informal dancing, however it probably seems a bit more formal these days with the idea of set dancing routines. In Scotland everyone learns these dances through school and unless you’re ultra keen they are mostly then just used at weddings or rare gatherings. Ceilidhs get people up and dancing with people that they may never have met before, it’s great for friends making memories together and also meeting new friends.
“So, after thinking about the fun of the previous year, we set the same date, venue and band. This meant that Dancing for PWS Research Take 2 (what we called the night) was fairly straightforward to plan. The previous year I had checked out a few venues with my focus being on what was accessible by public transport and car, with a good dancing space and were willing to give us a good charity rate. I was surprised that the rates of venue hire were a lot and so we got very lucky stumbling across the Queens Park Tennis and Bowling Club which had a large dance floor, good set up for the band and a cheap bar. Secondly, the Band were chosen, we got lucky and had a great band with a great caller. With the same foundations as the previous year, we started to look to fill our raffle table, we were very lucky as had a high amount of great donations by friends and family that were attending but also supported by lots of local businesses. The night was advertised on Facebook but spreading the word through friends and family meant that for a second year running it was a sell-out. Lots of those people that came the first year, came again or also brought someone. Their support meant so much to us and it made a huge difference in actually being able to pull the night off.
I’ll be honest, and my husband can attest to this, there were many nights I worried that no one would come, but low and behold the place was packed. We had a great night and everyone that attended also seemed to. Whilst there may have been some sore feet and possibly some sore heads the following day it was all worth it. We raised just over £2000 for a second year. We fully believe that research is key and will support our daughter to have the brightest future possible.”.