HD Livin’ Launch Party
In December, soon after setting up our charity we decided to organise a launch party.
The team put their heads together to work out what was required and how we would go about it.
We decided it needed to be extra special as it was the charity's first event and the first chance to get the HD Livin’ name out there, proving to people we were serious about our cause.
The date was confirmed for March 2020 and we knew we needed a venue with facilities for a sit down meal and entertainment. We also discussed the possibility of doing an auction and a raffle to be drawn on the night.
The Secretary and Chairman set out to find a suitable venue. We had recently arranged a 40th birthday party at the green taverners which is at Plymouth Argyle FC and really liked the space, the views (full view of the pitch} and the fact it was a brand new building with disabled facilities. The room also held a good amount of people. We spoke with the manager about our upcoming launch party and he was more than willing to help out with our event. We set the date for the 14th March 2020.
We talked about the menu choices and gave them a budget to work with. The chef came up with a 3 course meal that we were happy with and we added 2 bottles of wine per table.
Next it was back to the drawing board to work out the decor, entertainment and how we were going to advertise our event.
The secretary messaged around a few company’s for quotes to hire table cloths and chair covers etc.. and brought them to the next meeting. We decided to go with My Special day wedding planning & events. The Secretary and Treasurer arranged to meet up with Jackie to talk about the decor. Jackie gave us lots of options. We decided to go with white table cloths and chair covers and our logo colour (as similar as we could get) for the table runners and chair sashes. Jackie said she would create table centrepieces using fish bowls to tie in with the meaning of our charity which included a smile (positivity), house (respite) and sunflower (relief) on a mirrored plate with lights. They really were just what we were looking for and tied in perfectly. As we needed so many tablecloths Jackie reached out to another company she hired table cloths from the perfect package. Jackie and Tracy did an amazing job.
To finish off the decor we bought some tall standing banners with our logo on from instantprint which made the perfect back drop for photos. These were placed in the welcome entrance. The Treasurer made some menus for the tables which each had a story from someone impacted from Huntington’s on the back.
When it came to organising the entertainment we had so many people to choose from. We are very lucky to know so many talented singers between the HD Livin’ team. The chairman asked JD and Coke, Kay Scoble & Rebecca Bradley to sing for us on the night and they all agreed to sing for us free of charge. We hired The Green Taverners DJ for our end of night disco which was paid for by Tamar property services who very kindly donated £100 as sponsorship. The DJ agreed to give us a discount meaning we didn't have to pay anything towards it and helped us keep within budget. We are extremely grateful. We couldn’t of pulled off the night without you and the outstanding entertainment that you provided so thank you all.
We advertised the event on our HD Livin’ Facebook page and one of our trustees designed a poster that we left at different locations. Soon enough we had many people paying their deposits for our event. The launch party was all becoming very real.
Next on our to do list was to get some raffle prizes. The secretary and chairman sent out 100s of emails between them to different company’s asking if they were able to donate a raffle prize. We had such a great response and had over 100 raffle prizes donated. We had friends and family donate prizes and even friends of friends. We have so many people to thank for this EE, The Plymstock Club bar staff, Buckland Abbey, Plympton Swimming Pool, Legends Hair and Beauty, Exeter Racecourse, The Blue Peter Inn, Caffè Nero, Quay 33, The Original Pasty House, Plymouth Snowsports Center, Eden Project, PRYZM Plymouth, Beautiful Butterflies Beauty, cosmetic & personal care, The Milky Way Adventure Park, The Morley Bar & Eatery, Golden Scissors The Broadway, Kingdom of Beauty, The Farmyard Cafe, Co-op, Bonne Santé Plymouth, Lanhydrock Hotel and Golf Club, Kitley House, Dartmoor Zoological Park and many more… Our 1st prize raffle came from Sphere solutions ltd. They donated us an Xbox One X which was incredibly generous of them.
Our Chairman, Treasurer and one of our Trustees reached out for some auction prizes and with the help of some contacts we managed to receive a Manchester united signed football shirt and a ticket for two to one of there home games, a Mustang for a weekend from Vospers - Marsh Mills, Green fee voucher from Staddon Heights Golf Club, a signed boxing glove from Joe Calzaghe, a Roelof Van Der Merwe match worn cricket shirt signed by the Somerset County Cricket Club first 11 and a 2 night stay in a holiday apartment donated by Vivo Property. We were amazed at everyone’s generosity.
We decided to start selling our raffle tickets in advance which meant we had to apply for a lottery licence. Once that had come through we ordered our raffle books from Moorprint. We thought 1000 tickets would be more than enough but how wrong were we. It really took off and very quickly we realised we would need many more. We bought a further 1000 to be on the safe side and to make sure the people that were attending the event would be able to purchase raffle tickets if they wished on the night.
Now that we had everything planned it was time to sit back and wait for the day we had all been working so hard on to make it the perfect night.
The 14th March 2020 finally arrived, the day we had been waiting for. We did have a few worries leading up to this date with news about covid circulating. Nobody was really sure on what was happening and if we could go ahead.
We had to be at the venue fairly early to start setting up. We went to the venue briefly on the 13th to meet with Tracey who laid out all the table cloths ready for Jackie to add her finishing touches on the day. Once the room was complete we were over the moon. It was just how we had visualised. We couldn’t be happier.
We went home to get ourselves ready for the evening.
Before we knew it we were back at the venue ready to welcome all of our guests. Bruce Robinson very kindly set up an area to photograph everyone arriving and managed to capture some of the highlights of the evening. Richard and Pat Clarke helped set up a table at the entrance selling raffle tickets which was a big help as we were able to greet all of our guests.
As everyone started arriving and the room started to fill, seeing everyone looking so happy and smart, things really did start to become real. JD & Coke we’re playing in the background and it felt amazing to see everything come together just as we had planned.
Once everyone had been seated Anthony Lomas the founder of the charity did his first speech explaining about our charity and what our goal was. After the speech we had a couple of games of ognib whilst we were waiting for our first course to come out. Everyone paid £1 per game and if their number got called out they had to sit down. The last person standing won some bar vouchers which were donated to us by EE.
Soon everyone was tucking into their food which everyone seemed to enjoy.
Once everyone had eaten we held the raffle and auction. Presenter Dave FitzGerald from BBC Radio Devon was invited along to our event as our guest. He did the auction for us which was amazing. He was just the man for the job, he knew exactly what he was doing bringing humour in on the way.
Kay Scoble and Rebeca Bradley each did a set later on in the evening, bringing many onto the dance floor followed by the end of night disco.
We are pleased to say everyone said how great the evening was, many saying they would definitely be attending our next party.
To that end we have decided to make the dinner dance an annual event.
We did it and everything went according to plan, if not better. We raised a fantastic £3880 on the night and we couldn’t have done that without everyone attending or supporting us along the way. We would like to thank each and everyone of you for either attending, donating or helping out with any part that made this night possible.
Just days after the event everything went into lockdown and had we organised it for just the weekend after none of this would have been possible. Someone was definitely looking after us that day.
We can't wait to start planning our next dinner and dance.