Hannah’s Soup & Sweet Fundraiser!

Hiya I’m Hannah and I’m from Aberdeenshire. I’ve been running for 3/4 years now and I’m running the 2026 London Marathon for VICTA.

I was diagnosed with a visual impairment called Nystagmus at a young age. I have been very fortunate in my experience, which has been very mild, and I have had very few issues from it, however most other people with my condition face a lot of difficulties and limitations as a result.

I stumbled across this charity by chance and once I read about the amazing work they do to support children and families of children with visual impairments, I knew this was a charity I would love to support.

Can you describe the event / fundraising initiative?

I organised a Soup & Sweet for the local community – which is quite a popular community get-together in North Aberdeenshire and we raised £1,540!

I asked my family and friends to help on the day and if they would make a soup or pudding or contribute to the raffle. In the end we had broth, lentil soup, tomato and red pepper, sweet chilli and carrot and chicken & sweetcorn soup. We had lots of cheesecakes, apple crumble, sticking toffee pudding, meringues and brownies and jelly & ice cream for kids. Thankfully my boyfriends family are brilliant cooks!

My boyfriend’s granny and & mum made fudge as well – which is just the best fudge ever. I’m so lucky and I couldn’t have done it without all my helpers! I hosted it in a village hall in Strichen in the middle of the all the villages in the area (which is very rural).

I had a hospitality package donated from Fraserburgh F.C, the local football club – the package included tickets for the match and entrance to the hospitality lounge for the match for free food and drink, which is a lovely day out. I used to work for the football club so I’m grateful they helped.

I also reached out to other local businesses, my local TESCOs and Morrisons have community initiatives and they donated ice cream, cream, custard bread and diluted juice which kept costs down!

I created the menus and posters and advertised them on local pages, where I live it’s a lot of small villages. I also advertised in the local shop windows and asked family and friends to share the event on social media.

We sold tickets on the door for £7 for adults and £4 for kids. I also sold the raffle tickets for £1 for strip/row on the day, the lucky square was £5 (to win the football hospitality).

What’s your advice for other team members?

If it’s for the community advertise lots and don’t be afraid to ask local businesses for support. Advertising on local groups was really helpful! The event was at the start of November and I started organising it at the end of August, so make sure you leave around 8 weeks to organise.

I’ve been battling an injury at the moment, my advice is to go and get it checked out and make sure you do plenty of strength training as that was my downfall!