We thought it would be worth updating you all on where we are with our fundraising efforts. To date we have raised £569,296 – made up of monies received from Salesians of Don Bosco (the original owners of the land), kind and generous donations (from current and past members, friends and family from around the world), grants, events and activities. A huge thank you for all you have done and contributed so far; every amount really does help!
Most recently we hope you will have heard the great news that we received £8,333 from the Co-op Community Fund GoodCauses for the past 12 months – Simon Everest and Liz Lewzey went to the Ewell store last Saturday to receive (a copy!) of the cheque. Thanks for shopping local everyone!
But that’s just one part of what we’ve been doing. The fundraising group has recently submitted an application to the London Marathon Charitable Trust (LMT) Major Facilities Grants for £150K and will soon be submitting one to Sport England’s Community Asset Fund for £75K. We should hear whether we have been successful at Stage 1 of the LMT grantbefore Christmas. Work on an application to the National Hockey Foundation for £75K is also underway.
We can’t rely on all of those applications being successful. So we still need all of you, your family members and friends to do what you can to make the new Clubhouse at Old Schools Lane (OSL) become a reality.
There are three key, and simple ways you can all help:
- You will have heard Chris Breese talk about the ‘Buy a Brick’ initiative. That’s where the Club’s main fundraising efforts for this season are centred. We’d love your support; helping to lay strong foundations at OSL by purchasing a brick (or two!). For £100 anyone can buy a brick engraved with their name or message, which will create a magnificent wall of support by the new pavilion. You can also buy it over time, a bit at a time, with a standing order (£10/month – that’s only a couple of pints or so). There are application forms at the Clubhouse and OSL (see attached). Please think about if you can help – it really will make a difference. Further information on our website here – http://epsomhc.co.uk/buy-a-brick-campaign/
- Easyfundraising: Again this is easy to set up and everyone can get involved to help raise free donations for our cause. So far we have 111 supporters who have raised just over £3,800. Over 4,000 shops and sites will donate to us when you use Easyfundraising to shop with them! I’m sure many of you will be shopping online at this time of year – please, please remember before you buy to check if that retailer can be accessed through Easyfundraising – it’s just a couple of extra clicks. Do make sure that you nominate Epsom Sports Club as your chosen cause though! To get involved, click on through, here – https://bit.ly/2XUv3Rn
- Along the same lines – AmazonSmile – works in a similar way to Easyfundraising. It’s the same Amazon that you all know and love, just a different way of entering the online shop. Amazon donates 0.5% of the net purchase price (excluding VAT, returns and shipping fees) of eligible purchases to your chosen cause. Just make sure you nominate Epsom Sports Club as your cause, and start shopping! Smile and click on here – http://smile.amazon.co.uk/
We know you’ve heard a lot about these three initiatives – but it’s a great time of year to start getting involved in them. As we said at the start of this update – every little really does help and if we want to get the Clubhouse built, we really need everyone on board.
Please keep an eye on our social media channels for fundraising ‘extra bits’. There are often free to enter competitions to help win money for our cause just by clicking through to a retailer, opportunities to earn even more with ‘double donation weeks’, promotions and coming very soon via Easyfundraising, an advent calendar full of all kinds of goodies. It’s totally free, all you have to do is sign up and click(part of everyday life!). We’re on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Plus, we’re currently working on updating our ‘buy a square on the pitch’ campaign and will be intouch in the new year with further details.
We’re doing so so well and need a further £630,500 to reach our target of £1.2million for the new Clubhouse which will overlook the pitches wheremembers and others can continue to play the sports they love in hockey,football, cricket and more for many years to come! Let’s club together to create a place we can call our own and move the Club in the right directiongoing forwards.
Many thanks again for all that you are all doing. Every little amount really does help!