Scottish Charity Night 2009

www.cranntara.org.uk

17-01-2009 SCOTTISH CHARITY NIGHT FOR YORKHILL HOSPITAL

TOTAL £900.00

Scots usually don’t need any reason to have a party or a ceilidh, but in the community halls of Maryhill there were two good reasons. The first being the celebration of the Old Celtic New Year on January 12th, which was the original day of celebration before the old Gregorian calendar was adopted in Scotland in 1600, a 152 years before England in 1752 . The second and more serious was the fact that all proceeds from the evening were going to Yorkhill Hospital and the unit for the terminally ill kids.
The night began with a short speech by John MacNeil from Yorkhill who gave the audience an insight into why the money was being raised and where it was being donated to. John gave an interesting but brief heartfelt history of how the ward for the terminally kids had originated. By the time John had finished everyone had a better understanding of the seriousness of how raising funds for Yorkhill was.
The entertainment for the evening commenced with Ted Christopher and the Bannockburn Band, the band consisting of Ted Christopher on guitar, Gregor Lowrey on accordion and Robbie Sherman on Drums. Outstanding as ever the band played a range of traditional singing and dancing songs and tunes, which put all through their paces on the dance floor. Although playing for a minimal fee the band played for the best part of 3 ½ hours, which undoubtedly gets the utmost respect from Crann Tara.
In addition to Ted and the Bannockburn Band, we were entertained by solo piper
Duncan [ Watson!!?? ] Brown, giving his service for the sake of charity. Duncan played a medley of fine Scottish tunes to the enjoyment of the crowd.

To boost proceeds from ticket sales a raffle was held, sometimes it can be a struggle to get enough prizes to fulfil a raffle, but donations were in no shortage at Maryhill. With the generosity of many individuals and companies we had over 30 quality prizes to give away. So on behalf of Crann Tara we cannot but thank those enough who donated to the night.
In the hope of increasing the final total number of £’s further, anyone who still wishes to donate can do so by sending a cheque or by using paypal, we will leave the window open until the 25th of January [Burns Day] for you to do so before winding things up.
As John MacNeil had stated at the beginning of the night, ‘Yorkhill depends on the efforts of and generosity of ordinary folk for raising funds’. Despite the credit crunch and lower ticket sales from the previous year ordinary folk turned into special folk on the night by digging deep in their pockets to give generously, which constituted in the raising of a total of £864 after expenses from the night. Crann Tara have since rounded the figure off and made it a cheque for £900 to be presented to the Yorkhill Children's Foundation.

By Jim Singer

Crann Tara members hand over cheque for £900 to Yorkhill Children's Foundation

THE KING - Ted (Better than Elvis) Christopher

Special Thanks to the following for their generous contributions, donations and support without whose help the amount of proceeds being donated Yorkhill would have been far less.

Ted Christopher & Bannockburnband www.bannockburnband.co.uk	Playing for a minimal fee
Tunnocks - Uddingston www.tunnocks.co.uk	Teacakes & Caramel Wafers
Baxters of Fochabers www.baxters.com	Tartan basket filled with various produce.
Mackays - Arbroath www.mackays.com	Various presentation gift boxes of mixed jams
Soapworks Bodyshop, Queenslie Ind Estate, Glasgow www.soapworksltd.co.uk	Various gift packs of soap and aromatic oils
Strathleven Artizans www.strathlevenartizans.com	Various prizes including a copy of the Bruce Seal as well as their support on the night
Soil Nan Gaidheal www.siol-nan-gaidheal.org	Varoius prizes as well as their support on the night
Pauline Toner	A large hamper of mixed goods
Pauline Toner and Helen Tennant	Supplying the buffet
Donated by a friend of Yorkhill Hospital	A very large sized mixed hamper in a basket
Duncan Brown www.handpict.org.uk	Entertaining with a medley of pipe tunes
Donald Anderson	Various Prizes
May & Jim Gill	Various Prizes
Maryhill Community Halls	Giving the hall at a reduced cost
Mobile Bar Services 0792 937 2883	A cash donation
Rab the Targe Maker	A Cash donation

Not forgetting the Crann Tara members who had it not been for their efforts in donation, organising and giving their time the night would have neither gone ahead or been a success.
Due to the numerous contributions and donations, there have probably been a few names missed from the above, please except our apologies, but please contact us and we will add it to the list as well.

Finally on behalf of Crann Tara

Thank you once again for all the support received, without your contributions and donations it would not have been possible. With all proceeds going to the terminally ill kids unit of Yorkhill Hospital, it is fantastic that in a time of such financial slow down that ordinary people can come together to contribute their time and money for such a worthwhile cause. I know Yorkhill will also be grateful for the donation as they rely on such donations from the ordinary person to buy the likes of equipment etc.
It is with this in mind that on a serious note I feel let down by the British Government of how such essential and necessary equipment to hospitals cannot be funded by them, but yet other projects such as the Millennium Dome and The future Olympic Games can take priority and have mega millions spent on them. To me it seems to be a miss prioritising of tax payers revenues, but perhaps if Scotland in the future was to be in control of their own economy we could control the priorities as well in a matter of importance to Scots not as Britain as a whole, only the future will tell.

Hopefully we can have your support again in the future, you should be proud of yourself for contributing towards this success, thank you.