Nicky and her Mum, Deirdre, held a Tea and Cake afternoon as part of the CRY Cake Bake in memory of Nicky’s partner, Alan, who died in April 2016. We held this event on Saturday 26th November 2016 (1pm-4pm) at Centrepoint in Bramhall village. We raised £2,021 on the day and with subsequent donations and a raffle at Nicky’s work our total was a fantastic £2,509.36!
In the weeks leading up to the event we wrote to local businesses asking for donations for raffle prizes. We received an amazing 24 prizes including several worth £50. We were really overwhelmed by the variety of prizes we received. One of our favourites was a loaf of bread every month for a year from our local bakery! With all these fantastic prizes the raffle raised £300 (tickets sold at £1 for a strip). We also asked for a “showstopper” cake donation from local bakers/businesses. We were so pleased that Violet’s Kitchen in Stockport kindly offered to make an amazing explosion cake for us with a heart theme and CRY logo. Also a friend of a friend made a brilliant rainbow cake. Both of these were used as prizes in the cake raffle which raised £134 on the day (tickets sold at £1 a strip).
We delivered 500 leaflets to local houses and businesses in the weeks leading up to the event. We had offers from approximately 30 friends to make cakes and bakes for us. One of Nicky’s friends, Chris, made two large elaborately decorated cakes and 75 cupcakes! All the cakes looked very professional and much effort had been put into decorating and producing them. Many incorporated a heart theme and we had such a great variety – from red velvet to Oreo cupcakes to Morello cherry and many more. Our prices ranged from £1 to £3.50 per slice/cupcake and we had an unbelievable number of cakes! People who we didn’t even know were going to bake for us turned up with cakes on the day. The cakes filled three large tables and under the tables we had a huge amount of reserve stock! We think that the cake stall raised approximately £1,000 on the day.
We provided tea and coffee and for these we suggested a donation of 50p rather than selling them for a fixed price. We were lucky enough to be able to hold the event in a large hall and a smaller coffee area which we decorated with CRY banners, posters, balloons and displayed CRY literature. The cake sale had such a friendly and happy atmosphere. We were overwhelmed by the number of people who came to support us (and buy cakes!). To enhance the atmosphere, Arthur, a friend of Deirdre’s, sang and played his ukulele throughout the whole afternoon! On the day we had 14 helpers which included people who stood outside the venue wearing the CRY heart suit and holding up placards to entice people in! As it was the Christmas light switch on in Bramhall, we were lucky to have carol singers outside the venue performing to people coming in. We were also very pleased that Dave (a local amateur photographer) volunteered to capture the event by taking a fantastic collection of photographs. We had such an enjoyable afternoon and we really felt loved and supported by everyone who came, baked and helped. Alan was ever present in our thoughts on the day and we hope he would have been proud of the amount raised, the awareness generated for CRY and the sense of community we created that day.
Deidre & Nicky Harris
