Allotments 4 All

Hi Everyone

I just wondered if we are going to repeat A4A members charity gift for Christmas again this year?

Betula's original good idea along with Flighty raised money for Thrive two years ago in which we raised just over £200.

Last year we voted between 3 charities which were

Thrive                  http://www.thrive.org.uk/
Perennial              http://www.perennial.org.uk/
Gardening Leave   http://www.gardeningleave.org/

and Gardening Leave just won the poll by 3 votes and we managed to raise £630 which was an amazing total and a big thanks to everyone again.



Are we able to do another Christmas Gift this year?

Comments and suggestions welcome.

I'm definitely up for that and wasn't there a discussion last year that second place would be our first choice this year? (I might have that all wrong, sorry) Anyway, whichever charity is picked, count me in!

Also ... secret santa ;D (bit early for that though, lol)

Mmm secret Santa might put in an appearance again you never know  ;D

I have just come across another charity that has just suffered bad luck for the second time this year so might be a candidate if we end up having a vote again.

http://www.earthworksstalbans.co.uk/

Quote from: SamLouise on September 27, 2011, 23:35:27
I'm definitely up for that and wasn't there a discussion last year that second place would be our first choice this year? (I might have that all wrong, sorry)

There was a comment that second place would be the one for this year and third for next year but there were also comments that the poll was fun and raised interest  ;D

I guess Kev would suggest .....

Maybe we should have a poll on whether to have a poll  ;D ;D ;D

Sounds like lots of fun i missed last year i think a poll might be fun but also if we indicate which was 2nd and 3rd choice from last year?

I am happy to throw these 2 good causes into the pot

http://www.justgiving.com/cheekywilko (bowel cancer)
http://www.justgiving.com/joses/ (Great Ormond Street)

Both run by people i worked with and both worthy :) i dont know if there was a criteria so hope thats ok :)

Cam

A poll for a poll for a poll sounds great.   :-X :P :D

I'll join in and will go along with whichever charity is chosen.

Thank you Daveyboi.  :)

What a lovely idea. Please count me in.

I'm in  :)

I'm in.

Quote from: cambourne7 on September 28, 2011, 01:04:13
i dont know if there was a criteria so hope thats ok :)

Cam

In the past two years we have gone for a charity which relates to allotments or gardening.

I personally have no preference about whether other types of charities are included but it does open up so many good causes it would probably take a year for us to decide on one.

I guess we need guidance from Betula and Flighty

I'm in but IMHO I kind of think a gardening connection would be nice in the chosen charity. As I said IMHO!

-above post came in as i was writing ;)

I'm in too please. My youngest daughter makes & sells bath bombs so I'm sure she would do something if there's a raffle involved.
I agree with PKL, as we are a gardening site but obviously will go with whatever is decided.

Morning all............first of all thanks for the great support for the idea already.

As I am looking in while getting ready for work  :'( I will post more later as must get the dogs walked and me friends cat fed LOL.

I did start the idea as a charity that was Gardening related  as that is what we are about on here.

Count me in please

I'm sure I can cope with few packets of seeds less.. ;) I rather make those pennies to go more worthy cause..
So yes, I'm in too.

Us, too  ;D

I'm in too, please!

Do agree that it should be gardening related - but whatever charity is chosen is fine with me!  :) Thanks for organising.

Fantastic idea - again!  :)

As it says at www.actionforhappiness.co.uk (http://www.actionforhappiness.co.uk) (my other favourite website), "Research shows that being kind to others increases our own levels of happiness as well as theirs."

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  ;D

Following what I felt was unnecessary hassle last year I had decided that I wouldn't get involved with this again.

However providing that doesn't happen this year then I'll be more than happy to do what I did before - namely set up a specific Just Giving (http://www.justgiving.com/) account for the charity that we chose to donate to then keep everyone informed of how it's doing.

As to which charity provided that it's to do with gardening, and is national one, then I'll support whichever is chosen.

My own choice would be Thrive (http://www.thrive.org.uk/)

I'd go for Thrive too although but will abide by the decision of the majority so count me in too :)

Evening all,Thank you so much for all the encouragement. :)

Davy,Mike and I put a lot into it last year and Mike is right we did have problems.So  much so that I was not too keen on doing it this year as it is meant to be serious but fun.

I am happy to do it again as the lads are but only if it is  a gardening charity as per my original idea.

So send in your ideas and we will put them to the vote.

Sorry to sound so serious but if we get loads of agitates I will not carry on,not good for the nerves.

It is encouraging to see some of the newer members taking an interest,

I think we should stick to a gardening charity as per the original idea.

I personally did not notice there were issues last year and I am sure that we can manage to keep it interesting and fun and reassure Flighty and Betula to keep on with the "Good Idea"

I do hope so. It would be nice if we had it as an annual event.

No ,Mike and I did not go on about it as you were so great last year with your secret Santa. :)Why spoil it?

Anyway, lets forget all that now and try to make this year a bumper one.

Please let us know any Gardening charities that you like and we will put up a poll.

Flighty's right about the hassle last year, lets just keep it simple. :-\ ;D

Quote from: cornykev on September 28, 2011, 20:27:06
lets just keep it simple. :-\ ;D

That sounds good to me as at my age I have difficulty with anything complicated  ;D ;D

Life's to complicated to make it complicated. Simple is by far the best ;D.

Well, I'd like to start the ball rolling by nominating SamLouise's-Garden-Replenishment-Fund.  I can confirm it is a very worthy and just cause.  I even have bank details that donations can be made straight into  ;D :P

Ok, I'll behave.  I shant nominate any because I'm happy to go with whatever is decided (but agree it would be best for us to donate to an allotment/garden related charity)

Well yesterday (just about) I was looking at http://www.earthworksstalbans.co.uk/
as they had suffered two arson attacks this year. I looked at a local news site as well and it seems there has been other arson attacks on community buildings around the area.

However I did think afterwards surely they would be insured so maybe not such a desperate cause after all.

We will see what other charities are suggested but if no others come to light maybe we should go with Thrive this year.

Well I've submitted my vote, don't ask me what it was cos I aint telling, its private.   :P

Are you the comedian on here by any chance????? ;D

 

Quote from: cornykev on September 29, 2011, 05:26:54
Well I've submitted my vote, don't ask me what it was cos I aint telling, its private.   :P

Well I've just voted and I can tell what you voted ;D ;D ;D ( BTW not some freeky mod. power)!!!!

Well it hasn't taken you long PP to work out who the comedian is ;).

For all newbies this is the link to Thrive.

http://www.thrive.org.uk/

I like their work and they are a favouite of mine.

However to keep it fair please nominate any Gardening related charity you want to have a chance.

I will put up a poll next week  ............Friday next week to give plenty of time for members to see this thread.

No more suggestions so far...............

Anybody ?

In my other life I worked with adults with severe learning difficulties so Thrive sounds good to me but will abide with the majority ;D.

Really surprised that no one has made any comments on http://www.earthworksstalbans.co.uk/

I think it is looking like Thrive this year and we will not need a poll which will diminish the fun

So get your thinking caps on in case there is another worthy cause out there.

On a side note did we get an update on the willow planting from Gardening Leave?

I did have some pictues but lost them when my old computer went down.

Quote from: betula on October 01, 2011, 12:02:54
I did have some pictues but lost them when my old computer went down.

That is a shame but at least they bothered to update you.

I know we had the debate last year about just giving but I wondered if we might consider using Virgin Money Giving this year if we choose Thrive in the end ??

We have up until midnight tomorrow to nominate . ;D

I'll go along with the majority  but would like to nominate this one
http://www.greenfingerscharity.org.uk/

Quote from: manicscousers on October 06, 2011, 09:24:04
I'll go along with the majority  but would like to nominate this one
http://www.greenfingerscharity.org.uk/

An interesting alternative and well worthy of adding to the vote I think.

I think the vote should not be made a sticky though just a normal poll so it is more likely to be seen when people visit the shed.

Nominations close at Midnight........... :)

4 to choose from it seems then
Thrive
Gardening Leave
Perennial
GreenFingers

Anymore suggestions???

The vote has now started and runs for 7 days

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,69706.0.html

As the vote comes to an end and we find out which charity will the focus of this year's donation I just wanted to say thanks for all the support so far for Betula's good idea.

There will also be a surprise present run again this year.

Full details of both will appear on the fund raising page and the surprise present page which will be setup soon.

Look out for the new topics when they appear.

Thanks to everyone again....

And the result of the vote is....

Greenfingers

Before I set up the Just Giving page I thought I would ask ...
Is there any A4A member who would like to run the Just Giving part of this as Flighty is unable to do it this year due to other commitments.

It basically involves setting up the page on Just Giving and keeping an eye on it. Also occasional updates on here on how the total is going and answering any questions members might have about the process.

You can see what Flighty did last year at http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,63334.0.html

If someone would like to do it please let me know before 10pm tonight.

If there is more than one volunteer the first person to contact me will be the choice to avoid any bad feelings.

Just a gentle bump please see the reply above .... thank you

Daveyboi I've just sent you a PM!  :)

Great News

Flighty has now found that he will be able to do the Just Giving after all.

Thanks Mike it is really much appreciated you doing this.

Yay! good on yer, Mike!

Daveyboi you're welcome!

I'll be setting the Just Giving page up early next week, after I've had a chat with Greenfingers about what we're doing.

I will then start a new thread here with details of how members can donate.

Enjoy the weekend!  :)

Surprise Presents for donation to A4A Christmas Charity Gift

Following the fun that was enjoyed doing this last year a couple of members have contacted me offering surprise presents so we can do this again.
Thanks to grannyjanny and pumpkinlover!!

Thank you, everyone, I'm lost for words xx

 ;D

Here we go again............ ;D

Thanks to all our voters and bumpers. :)

Fantastic.  Well done to everybody involved, your time and effort is much appreciated.  I was on holiday until earlier today but logged in last night via my husband's phone (if I'd used mine, I'd still be trying) to try and get my vote in before it closed as I knew I'd be back home too late today! ;D  O2 signal is non existent in SW Wales but thankfully OH on T-Mobile and that wasn't too bad!

Thanks again :)

Quote from: SamLouise on October 16, 2011, 00:24:24
  I was on holiday until earlier today but logged in last night via my husband's phone to try and get my vote in before it closed as I knew I'd be back home too late today!

That is what I call dedication thank you !!