Friday 2nd September saw over 170 family and friends come together at Lea Social Club, Preston to support Julie, Graeme, Marc and Louise Lister and their fundraising efforts in memory of Julie’s nephew, Jamie Bucknell.
Jamie passed away suddenly and unexpectedly at the age of 14 in 2001. Since then the Lister family have been working hard to raise as much money as they can for CRY, with the last event held in 2008. After a couple of years off, and 2011 being the 10th anniversary since Jamie passed away, they hoped that this year’s event could be the most successful yet!
With the evening proceedings promising live music from two fantastic bands; a wealth of amazing prizes on offer in both the auction and raffle; and the promise of a ‘special guest appearance’, tickets for the event sold out in no time.
This was a great start to the fundraising effort and a massive boost to the fundraising pot.
With DJ John steering the evening’s proceedings, guests enjoyed music from “Northern Lights” and “Souled Out” while family friends donned CRY sashes and worked the room, getting people to handover as much money as possible for raffle tickets and quickly filling the donation buckets with generous contributions and plenty of spare change.
A brief break in the music meant another opportunity to tempt even more money from the generous guests.
The empty dance floor was a perfect playing field for rolling £1 coins and with a large bottle of Bell’s finest whisky up for grabs, the male competitive streak took over and there was another £40 in the kitty!
With the band safely back from the bar, they started up again with some more classics that got everyone up out of their seats and showing us their best moves.
After another great set, everyone took the opportunity to rest their feet as raffle tickets were drawn and the excellent prizes on offer were shared out.
With donations from local businesses, friends and family, there was something for everyone on the raffle table. From a bottle of whatever you fancy, to restaurant vouchers, high street hampers and even a full English breakfast hamper direct from the farm!
The charity auction was when people got really generous, with meals for two; pamper sessions and family days out up for grabs for the right price.
However, the big bidding wars of the night were over the Preston North End lots. A signed football, signed shirt and hospitality match tickets brought in a combined total of £320 from charitable bidders.
The evening was rounded off by the ‘special guest’ appearance of the night! As the lights dimmed and spotlights centred, the familiar sounds of Phil Collins’ hit, ‘In the Air Tonight’ played out to the audience. The twist this time being there was not one, but two Gorillas revealed, ready and waiting to re-create the infamous advert!
The night’s success can only be put down to the help of friends, family and local businesses and their generous donations of prizes, time, and money, to all of which a huge thank you goes out!
The 2011 grand total was an amazing £2310 raised and donated in the memory of Jamie Bucknell. Fingers crossed in 2012 it might be even more!
Helen Brady