£22,000 pours in for leaking roof
Read how one church raised a substantial amount of money by holding an auction of promises. Hopefully some of you may feel that this might be a great way for you to raise some money
In March 2018 a large amount of lead was stolen from the church roof. In April the thieves returned to remove yet more lead. The cost of repairing the roof will be £135,000 – the insurance came to £7,000. We have applied to the Heritage Lottery and Norfolk Churches Trust for grants which, if successful, will come to £101,000. To raise money ourselves the PCC decided to hold an Auction of Promises and Interesting Things – we could not manage this alone but five villagers volunteered to help us. The obvious place to hold the event was the church itself and the date, 6th July was before the schools broke up.
An Art dealer and a computer whiz took on the jobs of organising the auction and setting up a website. We decided on a live auction, mainly promises of experiences and a silent auction mainly objects which could be bid for online and then at the venue on the day.
We then set about approaching friends and acquaintances for the lots! Promises included dinner at a stately home, a visit to Emma Bridgewater’s factory, fishing, shooting, a load of muck – a list of 40 quirky and different things. The silent auction was 80 lots of mainly antiques, but a bidding war started over a scaffolding tower!
We approached every local publication and radio station to advertise the event. Most mentioned it and Radio Norfolk was terrific with its coverage which definitely engendered interest.
On the night it helped having two very efficient cashiers and a card machine.
In conjunction with the event we held a licenced raffle with cash prizes which made £4,000. A Just Giving page produced £1360. Donations to date are £2,210. The artist Mungo McCosh made a limited edition lino cut print of Baconsthorpe Castle which has made £1,575. The silent auction made £5,000, the live auction £7,545. Tickets were £5 and included limitless drink and canapés. EVERYTHING was given and there were no expenses. In all we have raised over £22,000 – made possible by the generosity of friends and neighbours.
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