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 Towards
the end of July 2008 this year we decided to go ahead.......
We had never done
anything like this before so we were a little bit anxious about
everything, but we soon got into the swing of things and started
planning the event.
We found a venue which
was nice and accommodated 100 guests. We decided on a sit down 3-course
meal, with disco.
We priced it out and then
we produced a ‘flyer’ and started sending it out to friends and family
asking them to extend the invite to their friends and family. Very
quickly we started to get positive responses and soon our 100-guest list
was complete.
We planned to also run a
raffle and managed to get a number of prizes donated from local
companies, who - when I explained what it was for - were very generous.
On the day, we decorated
the hall and awaited our guests with anticipation! When people started
arriving we could not believe the effort that everyone had gone to,
their costumes were unbelievable, everyone had really got into the theme
of Halloween.
 After
our guests had eaten, Lisa welcomed them all and explained that
although it may seem odd to have a ‘Halloween’ event, in fact years ago
it was believed that on Halloween the veil between our world and the
spirit world is at its thinnest, and this is why we had chosen
Halloween. I followed the ‘welcome’ by talking about CRY and showing
the Phillips and David Walliams DVD. I talked about the CRY screening
centres and encouraged everyone to look at the website. I then talked
about the '12 per week' and my helpers gave each guest a postcard to
post to their MPs.
After that I spoke about
my son David and the impact that it had had on me and all my family. I
showed a family photographic slide show of my son’s life as he had grown
up.
The whole presentation
made a huge impact on many people in the room, many of whom I had never
met before. Both Lisa and I felt a great sense of achievement in what
we had done - so many people said how fantastic it had all been and how
proud we should be feeling.
I wouldn’t say it is the
easiest of things to do, but it is so rewarding and it gave both Lisa
and I an amazing sense of purpose…. Everyone is looking forward to next
year's event!!!!
We have raised in
excess of £1,500 for the David Williams Trust Fund within CRY.
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