Variety Performance raised funds to the tune of £1,800
October 2018
Thanksgiving was the theme of this year’s show. The success of fundraising efforts and responses made through church appeals owes many thanks. Child sponsors, donors, partners and volunteers - we are extremely grateful!
The performers were greeted with the sight of a full church – a happy audience of all ages. This time, those assembled were given the opportunity to participate in singing the first song. The worship song "Your Love Defends Me" by Matt Maher encapsulates the spirit of praising God in the midst of adversity and suffering. The lyrics, taken from Psalm 91, revolve around the idea that God is our only refuge. This same spirit has been demonstrated by our brothers and sisters out in Uganda as they face their daily struggles.
The Armitage family brought everyone together, teaching and leading the memorable song whilst everyone happily sang and clapped along. Afterwards the audience was allowed to sit back and enjoy the show!
Ramon and Rebecca introduced the acts and kept the crowd entertained throughout the evening. Musical masterpieces were performed by the Polish children’s choir ‘Promethidion’, Katherine Smith, the Armitage family, Chariloy, AMDG and father and daughter duo Opoku and Aimee Opare.
A short talk, complete with a slideshow of touching photographs, was given by Judi, our secretary responsible for child sponsorship. She has visited Uganda many times and experienced what life is like in Masaka and the challenges people face in their daily lives. She went on to talk about a family that EVC are currently helping and the immense difference it has made to their lives.
Judi was happy to announce that a sponsor had been found for another child earlier that week, bringing the total of sponsored children up to two hundred! She expressed her gladness in seeing the growth; four years ago only twenty six children were in education and now we have already surpassed our target for 2018!
The evening wouldn’t be complete without a raffle! The prizes boasted an eclectic array of goodies. Many local businesses very kindly donated prizes, notably a Claytons Menswear/Womenswear £50 voucher, £40 voucher from The Zip Yard clothing alterations service and a Daisy May Florist voucher worth £30. There were also smaller gifts donated from Barovitz Jeweller, Sena Jeweller, The Body Shop and Magic Garden Florist.
We are extremely grateful for all these generous contributions; the prizes caused quite a stir and raffle tickets were being snapped up very quickly!
The evening was concluded with some words from Ted, our chairman, giving a final thank you to everyone for supporting us through this fundraiser. Thanks was given to Rebecca and Ramon, the MCs for the show, the organisers and volunteers that helped make the event so successful, and of course a massive gratitude was given to all the performers.
A special thank you went to Canon Seamus, for allowing us to use St Joseph's Church as the venue once again. Ted is particularly grateful for the support given by Canon Seamus over the years. This last year alone, St Joseph's parish have raised £4,048.52 - an enormous contribution towards our water bore hole project at St Matia Mulumba.
The event raised £905.10 through admission and raffle ticket sales. Our total was match funded by one of our donors to enhance the takings to an impressive £1,815.10! In addition, on the evening, two existing child sponsors agreed to sponsor another child each. This adds considerably to the sum raised.