Charity Fundraising Events
The Rotary motto is ‘Service above Self’ and we do endeavour to provide assistance whenever possible. However, in many instances this is not practicable and we then support other organisations to provide on-hand aid. Our contribution to this work is usually financial and we must therefore raise money in order to make donations, particularly for things such as overseas disaster relief. Street collections, raffles and some social events go some way to raising funds but the Fireworks Display, the Swimarathon and the Lord Mayor’s Children Christmas Appeal are our major fundraisers.
Fireworks Display
This major fund-raising event is jointly organised with the Bristol Round Table and usually held on the Friday evening nearest to November 5th. Held at Canford Park, it attracts a crowd of several thousand people and is the single biggest contributor to our charity budget regularly raising over £30,000 which is then spent supporting mainly local charities.
The Lord Mayor of Bristol's Children Appeal
This annual charity is strongly supported by the club with members chairing and serving on the management committee. A significant donation is made from proceeds of the fireworks display and this is supplemented by street and supermarket collections.
It aims to provide vouchers to purchase a variety of items for children living in disadvantaged families. Some £50,000 is distributed annually, each receiving £40 to purchase items of food, clothing and toys, etc in circumstances where they would otherwise have a very meagre Christmas.
Swimarathon
This event provides a facility for individuals or teams to raise sponsorship funds for either their own charities or Rotary good causes. Our club receives several thousand pounds whilst facilitating other organisations to benefit from this event. Swimmers, either singly or in teams, are sponsored to swim as many lengths of the pool as they can manage within an hour in return for whatever sponsorship donations have been pledged.
