Earls Barton Carnival
/
Most of the time Rotary events take months of planning, but do they have to? The answer is no. Of course there is a need for planning but sometimes an opportunity presents its self and you have to have the courage to take it, something that our club did this week. I saw an opportunity, sent out a message and that was it the wheels were in motion and the club was in action.
We did something a little different, something I haven’t seen other clubs doing; we had a sweet tombola at Earls Barton Carnival. It was a brilliant opportunity to get our club out there and at the same time raise funds for our ongoing projects. We were able to talk to potential members and spread the word of the great work that we as a club are part of.
The preparation was pretty simple we went shopping and then had a ‘stuffing’ session in my dining room the night before. With the help of 6 Rotarians and 2 mini ones we had stuffed approximately 450 cones full of pick n’ mix sweets in no time. We then ticketed the prizes and folded all of the tickets ready for the morning ahead.
In the morning, we packed the car and arrived at the Recreational Ground to set up. Within an hour we were all set up and ready to go despite the wind trying to take our table cloths. To begin with trade was slow because the procession hadn’t reached us yet but when it did, Oh my! It was all hands to the tickets. We had many young and old customers and of course those in between. The weather stayed dry which was a big bonus, as conducting an event outside is always dependent on Mother Nature. We were trading from 1pm till 5pm yet looking at the table at the end you wouldn’t think so. Even though we had many winners we still brought many sweets home.
This event, that didn’t take a lot of planning and preparation due to my experiences in tombolas through the Scouts, was a great success. As a club everyone came together to either prepare or sell on the day which meant we were able to be part of a community event, raise funds and ultimately spread the message of the good work that we do. I look forward to doing the next one.