Beverley Ladies Day Raises Over £2000 for Metabolic Support in memory of Claire who died in 1991 from Gaucher Disease Type Two
The Background
Fiona and Mike Rivett have been raising money and awareness of Metabolic Support since 1993. In 1991, their daughter, Claire was diagnosed with Gauchers Type 2 disease. Claire died at the age of 10½ months. On Saturday 18th April, the 13th Annual Ladies Day was held in East Yorkshire at Beverley Rugby Club. The event was organised by the Club’s President, Carol Innes and a fabulous day led to a total of £2,051.25 being raised as a donation to Metabolic Support.
The Link
Carol is Fiona’s Sister-In-Law and both she and her husband, Andy, have been on many of our fund-raisers over the last 33 years. In fact, Andy took part in our first one back in May 1993.
The Ladies Day (which has grown from a group of 20 Ladies 13 years ago, to around 135 this year) raises money for the Rugby Club but also donates half of the monies raised to a designated Charity. Usually, this is a local one in East Yorkshire, but this year Carol and Andy agreed with Committee members that Metabolic Support, being a charity so close to their hearts, should be the one to benefit.
The Event
A team of volunteers, including Fiona and myself, joined Carol and Andy on the Friday to set up the room. Various promotional products had been supplied by the charity (balloons, pens, wrist bands and leaflets). It looked amazing – almost like a full blown wedding venue – an incredible transformation took place.
On the Saturday, the ladies were greeted at 11.30 am with a glass of Prosecco and then the festivities began! Fiona and I spent about 10 minutes explaining the family link to the charity and then going on to give a brief explanation of what Metabolic Disorders are, how the charity was formed and has evolved and the sort of fund-raising activities we have organised through the last 4 decades. The presentation was well received and once some exceptionally entertaining games had been run by the Master of Ceremonies and Club Chairman, Brian Gilbert, the raffle tickets were sold. Then, all present were served an excellent three course meal, all dishes expertly home made by Warda which was enjoyed by all. During the meal, several attendees made very generous donations online via the QR code on the leaflets provided, raising an impressive £161.25 to add to the other monies raised as part of the day.
After the wonderful lunch many of the Ladies watched the Club’s first team play their last home game of the season. It was a ‘must-win’ game for Beverley and it proved to be a thrilling match, with Beverley securing a dramatic 38-34 win with the final play of the game. The celebratory atmosphere was enhanced further with the traditional auctioning of the players’ shirts. These were specially designed by Iona Murray (soon to be Smith) and sponsored by Andy and Carol. They looked superb and bidding was often competitive and always raucous! One shirt was actually secured with a £250 bid! Following the auction, the guests danced the night away, in part, thanks to the excellent DJ’ing from Mark Starkey
The fantastic total raised for Metabolic Support was a combination of the raffle, the individual donations online (or in the collection bucket!) and the auction. The ladies and their friends/partners were incredibly generous, not only with their money but also with their genuine interest and appreciation of what the charity does. A special mention must go to Carol who put in an amazing amount of hard work over several months to ensure everything met the standards she aimed for, and she has now created an annual event that is clearly much loved and valued within the community of Beverley.
Written by Mike and Fiona Rivett
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