A Magnificent £5k for the Organ at St Mary’s
The Fundraising Committee for the Organ Restoration Appeal at St Mary’s, Boston Spa were delighted at the response to the Grand Auction of Promises held in the Village Hall last Friday evening. With the assistance of a team of enthusiastic helpers, including a number of Boston Spa Scouts, all of the planning, advertising and hard work over many months paid off – handsomely – and in a carefully arranged setting of tables filling the Hall the finishing touch was provided by balloons of many colours; the transformation was magical.
The fantastic sum of £5,401.80 was raised, mostly through the auction of 43 varied and interesting Promises which will now be fulfilled over coming weeks
and months. These were all given generously by members of St. Mary’s congregation and bids came quickly under the hammer of Mr. Richard Ullyott who expertly ensured that the best offers were extracted from those present. Our photo shows him in action on the stage of the Village Hall during the Auction.
The Auction of the Promises was finished within an hour of the evening starting and
the 116 guests then sat down to a superb buffet supper arranged by the Committee
ladies and their helpers, led by Liz Etherington, Chair of the Appeal. A well-
Leading the proceedings was Mike Bowers (pictured toasting the success of the auction) who had started the whole ball rolling almost nine months ago and who kept the momentum going even when his pleas for more promises apparently fell on deaf ears. He was absolutely delighted at the result and said afterwards, “Overall a brilliant night to end a most enjoyable project. This was a good fundraising event and a good community involvement event.”
As the guests departed with their memories of a wonderful evening the team set to and cleared everything away, leaving the Hall empty and quiet once again.
Click here to see the full list of promises and what they realised in the auction.
