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Over the past couple of years, I have organised and supported various events to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. I fundraise as part of a group that includes my partner, Mandy, who also works for RBS, my colleague, Mark and a good friend from outside of the company. I'm proud to say that we have raised almost £5,500 so far this year.
So what inspired us to support Macmillan? It's a sad story. A long-standing bar maid at my local passed away three years ago. She wanted us to commemorate her by donating money to Macmillan rather than spending it on flowers at her funeral. We've been raising money for Macmillan ever since.
This year, we focused on raising money through an RBS Group online auction that took place on 17 October. Over 30 companies and individuals pledged donations and we were dramatically boosted during the final week by an extremely generous donation of two 5-star Spa breaks in Malta, arranged by Jan Knights of Square Mile Insurance.
We also received an Xbox 360 from our courier company, TNT, which proved to be very popular with a 'bidding war' breaking out towards the end of the day. In fact, each and every donation was hotly contested, and we received almost 500 actual bids on the day of the auction, with some inventive tactical bidding taking place, at times. The total raised was a wonderful £3,200.
Add this to the £1,200 we have raised through our monthly pub quiz, our forthcoming Christmas Hamper raffle together with the matched funding from the Community Cash Back Scheme we hope to raise almost £6,000 by the end of the year for Macmillan.
Everybody in our small team agrees that we get a great feeling of satisfaction and achievement from our efforts. We all know that if we put a little time and effort into fundraising, we can raise money that will help a lot of people through difficult times. We have managed to retain the "fun" element in what we do and as a result we are able to get ad hoc help from a variety of individuals who are more than happy to help out without having to make serious commitment. The Macmillan brand is very powerful but without the unbelievable and ongoing generosity of the people, pub-goers and companies who offer their support and cash at our events we could achieve absolutely nothing.
Vince Newman and Team
RBS Group Manufacturing
Group Architecture and Business Improvement