During 2013, the Trust held some events designed to grow both our financial and social capital – in other words, to raise money and have fun!
On 30th May, we held “A Dance for Grant – Til Your Trotters Shake”. Round House Folk provided the music (and donated their fee) for a very enjoyable barn dance in the Village Hall at Markbeech. Together with the proceeds from the bar, Til Your Trotters Shake raised £317.50 for the Trust. We’ll be doing it again this year – see www.grantrule.org for details.
The ‘Dance for Grant’ successfully kicked off 2013 Folk Ale. Monies from Folk Ale ticket sales cover the costs associated with running the festival, but while the Folk Ale does not contribute financially to the Trust, it contributes a huge amount in terms of social capital – giving pleasure to many, bringing creative people together and sparking new ideas and initiatives. It also provides a template that can be adapted for running other enterprises where financial profit is simply housekeeping rather than the main objective.
The second Trust fund-raiser was the Grant Rule Memorial Concert, held on 12th October 2013 at the newly opened Eden Centre in Four Elms Road, Edenbridge. Many thanks to all those who packed out the hall to make our first Memorial Concert such a success. Everyone was well-rewarded with a superb evening’s entertainment from Phil Beer – a lovely guy as well as a great musician and entertainer. He gives us a hard act to follow for 2014’s Memorial Concert – we have our thinking caps on as I write!! Thanks to the great support and Phil’s generosity, we raised an amazing £548 from sales of tickets and refreshments. Thanks are also due to Keith and Alan Rule, Sue Oldfield, Amanda Hedges, Charles Laver and Andy Blackburn, and to Phil’s sound-man, John, for volunteering their help and making the evening a success.
The event also enabled us to establish links with the Eden Centre which we hope will bear further fruit. The Pigs Ear PA system will in future be stored at the Centre and will be available for other individuals or organisations to use. To further this, we are planning to run a workshop on using the PA – details will be available from the Eden Centre shortly. If you would be interested in taking part in this workshop, please email Sue, sue.rule@grantrule.org.
We have also opened discussions with the Sustainable Edenbridge group on ways of working together with the Trust. Again, its early days, but there is a significant overlap in our objectives which we want to build on. For any local people who haven’t come across this group, it meets on the second Thursday of the month at The Olde Crown pub in Edenbridge High Street. If you want more information, contact Ben Brownless via email: ben.brownless@gmail.comor telephone: 01732 860450.
We’re looking forward to growing and consolidating the Trust network over the next twelve months.
So, in conclusion: To help us keep in touch, we have now set up a proper newsletter facility and a LinkedIn group. There is also of course the Trust website at www.grantrule.org
Trust events, together with the generous donations made in Grant’s memory, have raised just over £5000 to support our running costs, and start a seed fund for projects and initiatives that will further the aims of the Trust. We look forward to finding out more from all you good folk about what those projects and initiatives will turn out to be.
Best regards,
Sue, Lyndsey and Helen