Strathblane Primary Fundraisers
Minutes of meeting held on Tuesday 9 June, 2009
Present: T. Leven, A. Scott, R. Wilson, L. Barclay , D. Fabel, W. Hamilton
Apologies: Suzy Ure, Vivienne MacKay, Gun Orgun, Louise McHugh
Traci started with a summary of the years events.
October 2008
Halloween Disco
November 2008
Africa day
Christmas Fair
December 2008
Hampers Raffle
Tea/coffee for Christmas Concert
March 2009
Red Nose Day
Shamrocks and Shortbread (Ceilidh)
April 2009
Rag Bag
May 2009
Summer Fair
June 2009
P1 entrants morning
It was noted that this year there was no parents only event. Maybe next year this could be organised in addition to a family event such as a ceilidh or quiz night.
Debrief of the Summer Fair
• First of all, a very big thank you to all who contributed. There are too many to name individually, you know who you are, thank you all very much. A couple of special mentions should go to Mr Thom and Mrs. Randall, the decorating team, and Linda.
• Very positive feedback from the community.
• Make a photo board of the summer fair for the school.
• Summer Fair raised £4017.86
• Promote next Summer Fair earlier.
• Note to organisers: Devolve responsibility.
What follows is pretty much a braindump by the people present at the meeting. Also see the summary by Linda at the end of this document.
• Missing items: corkscrew, four plastic bowls, bread knife, black bottle opener, good quality steak knife
• Inflatable company may have mistakenly taken some of the School’s extension leads (DF to check with Mr Thom). The inflatable assault course will be at the School on Thursday as a gesture of goodwill given the events at the summer fair. It was decided that SPF should stick with the same company for the next summer fair.
• PA system – next year go through John Campbell.
• Race – went really well. Easy to organise. More medals needed to award both male and female race winners. Make sure the race distances are clearly advertised. The finish line could be placed more strategically to facilitate giving out of prizes. Ask Miss Allen for group photo.
• Parade – the long delay between the Race and Parade detracted from the Parade. It would be good to have more pipers to get people together. It may be better to either have the race or the parade. this may depend on the theme of the fair, although the overall recommendation was to keep the Race.
• Ticket Desk – chaos because it was very busy and multiple tickets were being sold. Need to have more desks and try to sell tickets in advance.
• Stalls – ask people to set up the stalls earlier. Keep School doors closed until specified opening time so that everything is ready when people come in, including food production. Sell tickets outside. Need better instructions at stalls where we ask volunteers to do a job, e.g. handing out prizes for the race. Offer stall people a hot drink during the day.
o Wine – move to evening
o Dawn – problem with people not paying
o Food – really busy, use professional candyfloss machine next time, make sure everything is in place e.g. hot dogs
o Coffee/Tea excellent. Space to be improved for next Summer Fair. Bigger ticket box needed.
o Activities – slow start but became busy during the day.
o Games – keep beat the goalie and sponge toss. Other games not necessary.
o Uniforms – didn’t go too well. This stall is maybe better suited for an event earlier in the year.
o Pony rides – very popular. We can charge more.
o Bands – went very well once the PA was sorted. Put an age guide on promotional posters. Start promoting earlier. Try to get access to the stage lights. Bands get free BBQ dinner. Thanks a lot to Beate and Vivienne for picking up band members.
o Beer tent – longer opening hours (17:30 – 22:00)
o Cinema – worked well. Parents need to be at the evening event for children to be eligible for the cinema.
Final comments:
T. Leven to place a summary of the event and acknowledgement the sponsors into the Blane and Milngavie and Bearsden Herald.
Upcoming event: Fashion Show on Friday 23rd October, 2009. Organisation by Ann Scott progressing well. All classes will be involved.
Next meeting: 20:00 Tuesday 1st September at the Blane Valley Inn. Ask new head teacher to attend.
Meeting closed at 22:05.
Linda’s SUMMARY OF SUMMER FAIR
RACE
• Estimate that just over half the students participated.
• Feedback from children is that they enjoyed it.
• Thanks to Ruth and Paul for organising the event.
• Thanks to Pestle & Mortar for the food and to Browns for the Water
• Course was perfect length
• Think we should have awards for first female
PARADE
• Delay between the race and the parade. Didn’t expect race to finish so soon.
• My view is that parade is not necessary.
MAIN EVENT
POSITIVE
• Brought the school community and the extended community together
• Raised around £4,000
• Children enjoyed the day
• Business Stalls were content with their sales yet there were a few exceptions. (Angel Wines did not do as well as we have predicted, upon reflection they would be better coming to an evening event).
• All the Food Stalls were very busy. Should think of renting a commercial candy floss machine in the future.
• Activity Stalls: Face Painting, Hair and Jewellery stalls were busy. Totem Pole and nails were not so busy. Pottery Making started off slow but ended up doing fine. Storytelling appeared to be a big hit and would suggest doing it again.
• Sponge Toss and Beat the Goalie were popular
• People enjoyed the afternoon bands (see Vivienne’s remarks)
• Evening was a massive success: bands were fabulous and the kids loved the cinema.
NEGATIVE
• Problem with Inflatable
• PA System
• Weather
Things to keep in Mind for Next Year
• Definitely need the evening before to start with set-up
• Need more time to finish setting up in the morning and businesses need to come a little earlier (45minutes before event starts)
• More people to manage the event (assign a person to each main task)
• Do not need Games in the Park
• Beer Tent all day
• Market more and start marketing earlier
• May not need as many games stalls or perhaps can outsource.