Well, back in 1996, the children collected coins and made a “coin trail” which ran up and down the Church drive, raising just over £105. A simple fund-raiser with not too much organisation required. Christmas and Summer discos are hugely popular, being held early one evening towards the end of the appropriate term. The Friends arrange refreshments and some form of fun – tattoos or hair spraying have been done in the past. A popular fund-raiser for the children is the Sponsored Bounce, first introduced in February 1997. Each child is given the chance to bounce on a Bouncy Castle for 1 minute and obtains sponsorship for completing the task! Again, a “simple to organise” event, the Friends provide the “counters” who verify the number of bounces for each child – very important to the older children –and also drink and a biscuit whilst they calm down afterwards!.

There is a traditional Christmas Fayre and also the Summer Fayre which is a joint event with the Parish. Both of these activities require a certain amount of organisation, and although the majority of games needed for various stalls have now been accumulated, there is still buying to be done, sorting out donations given and helping to run the stalls. It goes without saying that setting up and tidying away also have to be done and hence the famous saying “Many hands make light work” is indeed very appropriate.

Other events have included a car treasure hunt, Family Fun nights and ice skating.

HOW CAN YOU JOIN

 Membership to the Friends is not restricted to just parents of children in school. If you are a relative or childminder or just friend, you are more than welcome to join us.

What would you be committed to do?

The Friends have a “Committee” meeting about once every half term. This is an evening gathering in a pub to discuss recent events, forthcoming projects and any new ideas.

As we are (currently) all parents, we all have our home commitments. There is no pressure to attend every meeting, nor are you expected to help at all of the fund-raising events undertaken.

 You may have a hidden talent for producing posters to publicize forthcoming attractions or you may be someone with good ideas but no idea what to do with them, you may be someone with some free time on your hands to help out at one of the events. Whatever your skill, your input would be appreciated.

After all, the proverb “Many hands make light work” is what we aim for.

CONTACT DETAILS

If you are interested in providing support for the Friends, either by way of joining the Committee or volunteering a particular talent or some free time that you have, then speak to us.

We can be found in the playground, dropping off or collecting children.