There are so many updates to inform you of, far too many to be put on the facebook page and therefore there is a whole blog post dedicating to updating you on everything Andy’s Beat related that has happened recently or is yet to happen!
But to start with we must again say a massive thank you, all of your kinds words, spare pennies and offers of support are invaluable to us and we want to say that those words of support are much appreciated. Lots of you have stopped members of us to say you love the blog, or you think what we’re doing is inspiring and it truly does surprise us each time we hear words like those and spurs us on even more. Thank you for this encouragement as well as all your support!
So where do I start? Well firstly you all know that we have started our Tambourine adventures and we have sent tambourines out to India and Zambia. But the exciting news is we will be launching two campaigns in the New year, but that is all I can reveal. Other than you can sponsor a tambourine right now and a printable PDF will be on the website soon, so that you can ‘Give a Beat’ and give a sponsored tambourine as a Christmas gift, our alternative gift option as we enter the Christmas season! We are also in contact with some new contacts and so hopefully will soon be announcing the new recipients of our tambourine adventures!
Our Board meeting was filled with many plans and lots of organizing of events and campaigns as we fast approach 2014!
But before we enter the new year there are lots of things happening right now (or have since passed)! The King’s school Christmas Fayre, the school me and Debbie both attended till sixth form, were generous enough to say 10% of the proceedings would go to us! There was a poster and display of a our work, and the support means 10% of the funds raised on the day will come straight to us! The fayre was a great occasion as it is every year with many stalls run by local small businesses, as well as the tombola and secret present room . It was a great event to get the whole family excited for the Christmas season! Thank you to everyone who went and donated to Andy’s Beat!
Our display at the Christmas fayre
Next …..there was a music event running. A winter concert was held tonight by Birmingham concert orchestra at St Anne’s church and a donation of the proceedings taken their will be given to Andy’s Beat. It’s great to have a music event such as this supporting us! A huge thank you to the organizers for agreeing to donate some of the proceedings.
Another thank you to the Interact group at St Helens and St Katharine’s school, the sixth form Debbie and Meg attend, who have kindly offered to run events in support of Andy’s beat starting with take me out evening for students in a couple of weeks! It means so much for you to choose us as one of your charities to support so thank you!
And finally the police training team at Thames Valley, whose support has astounded us.“The Foundation Trainers at Thames Valley Police Training Centre have chosen ANDYS BEAT to be their nominated charity for the next 12 months. Having read about the Lands End to John O Groats “virtual race” we thought we could do something similar but bigger! There are 16 trainers plus 3 admin staff, so it was decided we would “virtually run” around the world (a bit like Ewan McGregor in the long way round).The reason? In October 2014 annual fitness tests become compulsory for all officers and this seems a good way to improve/keep fit. We call it a virtual run, but really it is all exercise – walking, running, cycling, swimming, rowing, etc.The distance is logged onto a spread sheet and as we reach landmark locations we want to have a stall relevant to that place, to raise money. The first stop will be the Eiffel tower and we are going to offer a croissant breakfast. We are also selling wristbands and asking students to sponsor their trainers on their way. After the first week we had reached Sevenoaks in Kent and on Tuesday 26th November we had travelled 110km and were in Igtham, Kent.We will be putting updates onto Facebook to let people know where we are each week.” Wow that is all we can say! Thank you! And of course if anyone wants to sponsor the team please get in touch through the comments, to a member of the team, via our Facebook page or email us through our website!
The Starting point!
Also if anyone can remember a while back we posted a request from RDA (riding for the disabled association, the Abingdon branch) to vote for them to win some money from the Lloyds bank community fund. We are delighted to say that they received £3000 from the fund! I know many of you followed the link we shared and voted for them so thank you, your votes counted!
That is all for now! Stay tuned for more as we enter the new year as lots of exciting plans are underway!
And as always a big thank you from the Andy’s Beat team! 🙂
ANDYS BEAT! 