Can you introduce yourself?
My name’s Rob and I’m very excited to be running the London Marathon for the first time. I’m a chef and have cooked for the likes of Pamela Anderson and the New Zealand All-blacks. I’ve completed many half marathons and managed to get around the Yorkshire Marathon in 6 hours. I have been trying to run the London Marathon for over 12 Years, so I’m really pleased to be raising money on behalf of VICTA. I have loved the process of brainstorming ideas and events to raise money for this wonderful charity.
Can you describe the fundraising event?
My most recent fundraiser was Bob’s Booze & Beans Tombola, which took place at my local pub, The Anchor, during their annual Christmas Market. Having worked at the pub as a chef in the past, the owners kindly let me have a stall to raise funds.
I hit 40 a couple of years ago and after my party, I found myself with an excess of alcohol. While some would say that’s a good thing (me included!) I thought there was an opportunity here to raise some money by offloading some of our collection through a tombola. I posted out on social media and messaged my friends and family to ask for prize donations – and before I knew it, we had more than 50 bottles. The pub had some empty bottles and with the addition of some LED lights, we created a superior prize – light-up booze bottles. I wanted to make it fun and add a little humour via a booby prize (that still had some value) – so I bought baked beans for 19p a tin. Once everything was labelled up, we were ready for Bob’s Booze & Beans Tombola. Prizes ending in 1 were beans, prizing ending in 5 and 9 were booze.
On the night, the stall was decorated with the DIY VICTA bunting printed from the resources. The VICTA bucket held all the raffle tickets for the draw and I was kitted out in my VICTA t-shirt and beanie. I printed QR codes linked to my Enthuse page so that anyone who wasn’t carrying cash could scan to donate. It’s safe to say I was the busiest stall by far! I had a fantastic time chatting to people about the charity, raising awareness and discussing my marathon journey.
I charged £2 for one ticket, £5 for three and £10 for 7, I managed to raise an amazing £433 for my fundraising pot! Some people just gave £5 without taking part. The pub generously offered to keep the tombola going if all the bottles didn’t go on the night but every prize went (even the beans!).
What surprised you?
People kept coming back! It wasn’t very busy at the pub but people kept coming back! One person donated £60 to the tombola. A nice lady unfortunately won 3 tins of beans on the trot! A very sweet regular at the pub, called Jack the Hat was very pleased, as most people were interested in the alcohol, he sat at the bar and happily took the disregarded beans, I think he went home with 12 tins of beans by the end of the night.
Would you recommend it to others?
Attaching the tombola to an existing event worked really well – I’d highly recommend it. As it was a Christmas event, it did feel special and everyone was in the festive spirit! The prize element seemed to make it a real success – people are more willing to part with their cash if they have a chance to get something back from their donation. The pub has a sausage and cider festival in the New Year and they have agreed that I can have a stall, it’s a really great way to fundraise with people in your community. Raising £2,000 can feel daunting initially, but I’ve raised £1,373 already without reaching out to my closest family and friends. I’d also really recommend running a football Super Draw, you can ask Charlotte or me for the template I created.
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