Leaping from last year into next with many thanks.
A new Friend-ship that flourished in 2023 is set to soar in 2024.
Soon after the New Year 2023 began, the membership of the Edward Hain Friends committee saw a big reshuffle. 5 had recently left to become Trustee/directors of the new Edward Hain Centre charity. 2 others retired, including Chair for the last several years, Toni Carver. With just 4 previous members remaining, new members were admitted, and officers appointed. The revamped Friends committee elected Angela Walker as their new Chair.
The speed with which the new team leapt into planning and organising new events was astounding! Many of them were learning the ropes from scratch. As a newer member myself not so long ago who was able to lean on an entire committee’s experience, I can’t imagine how I’d have managed if I’d been one of 6 or 7 newbies! But manage they did, and brilliantly, too. During their first year of fundraising, the events they organised raised over £30,000.
This amount was only from events, mind you. It doesn’t include donations made by individuals.
Looking Back: 2023’s events
Be warned: this is a LOOOONG post, so if you want to stop at the 30 grand paragraph above, nobody will know… Either way, our heartfelt thanks go to ALL friends and Friends. This is for you.
February to April: Coffee Morning; Kizamba; Dinner; and Lunch
The Friends also have their friends: the special local venues who host so many of their events. For the first 3 months, these were the ever-generous Western Hotel and St. Ives Rugby Club, who hosted repectively the Feast Day Coffee morning and the fabulous Kizamba; the beautiful Boskerris Hotel in Carbis Bay; and, once again, Cornwall’s primo restaurant, The Ugly Butterfly, who provided a fabulous luncheon spread, including owner Adam Handling‘s yummy award-winning pud.
May to July: St. Ives food & drink fest; wine tasting; coffee morning
The quieter months of summer produced 3 popular events: the gloriously sunny St. Ives Food & Drink Festival, at which the Friends were generously given a stall both this year and last; a wine tasting at the lovely Harbour View House, who have been so generous; and a coffee morning at Friends member Donna Trudgeon’s hip, classy, hair salon, Blew St. Ives. . . Now also, apparently, the most in-demand coffee shop in town! (amount raised tba, with apologies)
Mid-July also saw the momentous event of completing the purchase of the Edward Hain building. The next event was to be a celebration!
September-October: Opening weekend, Afternoon Tea, Ball, Auction, Bingo and Gig
The Edward Hain Centre’s sunny, joyful Grand Opening event drew hundreds of people. To prepare the long-neglected building, volunteers mopped and scrubbed the Centre. Outside, the garden was hacked back, tidied and totally transformed with the wonderful support of Sweet Williams Florist.
Many thanks to ALL Friends and volunteers who made this event go with a bang, organising food, an Art Show, a roster of helpers for both days. . . Your eventing skills were in full swing! Huge thanks too to the St. Ives Festival for co-ordinating buskers for us and publicising, along with the Sunday Times, BBC Spotlight, BBC Radio Cornwall, Heart FM and Coast FM for helping get word out about our project.
Two days later came Afternoon Tea, a sold-out event laid on once again by the Carbis Bay Hotel, and ten days after that, guests were rocking the ever-generous Tregenna Castle Hotel with a second ball.
In October, a 6-day Online Auction raised £3232.89, and Bingo at Polmanter on a foul night when people braved wind and rain to raise £846, closed out the late summer.
November & December
Another gig by Kizamba kicked November off, raising about £600 (tbc). At the end of the month the Shanty Shout Festival did us proud and nominated our charity as a permanent beneficiary. What an honour!
Fair Mo Christmas market came next (see the Friends’ guest blog about it, here), and in mid-December, a wreath-making event at the EHC, with plants donated courtesy once again of Sweet Williams Florist‘s generosity.
The last 2 events of the year were organized by 3 special friends. On December 15th, Liz hosted one of her famous Quizzes – a Christmas bonanza that raised £1200. Then, on boxing day, came a mad dash for the waves as hundreds of crazy bathers took a Boxing Day dip. That event, raising fund for the St. Ives Salvation army as well us for the Centre, raised well over £1000. The total is still being totted up, and will of be shared between the 2 charities.
Looking Forward: 2024 and beyond…
As you know, we have a lot of work to do in 2024. (Read here to read our previous blog post about that) But with an extra day (being a Leap year), and more than a Little Help from our Friends, as we Leap into a NEW new year of Friendship, we’re looking forward to a bumper year ahead!
Many thanks again to every single one of you who helped. And a very Happy New Year to you all.
