A quizzy night with a Chatty Man...
Our Patron, Alan Carr along with celebrity friend Angellica Bell, supported Neuroblastoma UK at a local quiz night in March 2020, raising nearly £7,000!
Our Chair of Trustees and guest blogger Tony Heddon writes about this fantastic event.
Every now and then, something just lands in your lap. It just appears, looks up at you and says ‘Who’s a lucky boy then’.
“We couldn’t ask for a more committed Patron and we are so grateful for Alan’s involvement. ”
Just such a situation arose when I became Chairman of Neuroblastoma UK in 2018 and was told that our Patron was Alan Carr.
Since then, Alan has generously organised a celebrity football match, a comedy night at Alexandra Palace raising £17,000, supported our Great Give It Up campaign and attended many events on our behalf.
We couldn’t ask for a more committed Patron and we are so grateful for Alan’s involvement.
A big idea for a small event
Then, in September 2019, following an amazing charity fundraising day at BGC partners, Alan suggested we hold a quiz night to raise money for Neuroblastoma UK. Nothing big, just a fun night in my Hampshire hometown, a few selfies and a not-too-taxing quiz.
A fantastic idea, so a date was set and it was full steam ahead. They even had to postpone a filming day for RuPaul’s Drag Race to accommodate it! We felt so honoured. The next few months were a whirlwind of organisation.
Astounding generosity of a local community
The evening came together thanks to family and friends
We wanted to keep the event small and informal so we chose the Four Marks Village Hall as our venue. With huge support from family and friends, the evening came together.
I was astounded at the generosity of local companies and individuals. Melody Care and Bowtell’s Event Catering generously sponsored the event, completely free of charge.
By the time the evening arrived, we had succeeded in pulling together a cost-free event.
This meant that every penny raised on the night would help fund research into developing new, more effective and kinder treatments for children with neuroblastoma. It was frankly staggering.
A special thanks to those who donated items for our auction, especially
Celebrity chef Jean-Christophe Novelli, who kindly donated a day at the Novelli Academy
Hampshire Food and Drink
Our huge and sincere thanks must go to the following:
Alan doffed his cap to thank local companies for their support
Tesco’s Four Marks
Alan even went on a personal mission to visit local suppliers and thank them for their support, including the Jane Austen museum…
Very special guests - and a huge waiting list!
Tickets sold out in less than 30 minutes and we had a waiting list running into the thousands! We welcomed 150 guests on the night and were privileged to be joined by four local families who sadly lost children to neuroblastoma.
The evening was held in honour of Rory, Emily, Niamh and Greg, a dear friend of my family.
Alan arrived with his good friend and TV and radio host Angellica Bell. What a bundle of energy and kindness they were together! After 30 minutes of selfies and “OMG it is actually them!”, the evening began with a fun game of Heads and Tails before we started with the quiz. Alan is a natural quizmaster and the night was hugely enjoyable.
Going, going, gone…
The team at Red Cat Brewing
We also held an incredible auction. The hampers of Hampshire food, drink and meals at local restaurants were snapped up for around £400 each and a double magnum of Berry Bros Claret and Global Award Winning First Batch River Test Gin went for well over £200.
However, the key lot came from Alan himself and included:
signed memorabilia from Kylie Minogue, David Walliams and Robbie Williams
two tickets to Alan’s ‘Not again, Alan!’ tour
two tickets for any comedian from Off The Kerb productions
and, drum roll, the autographed wild pink jacket that Alan wore on RuPauls Drag Race! Initially modelled by Angellica, it was tried on by several potential bidders before being snapped up.
The quiz ended with ‘Guess the Song Title’ and a great deal of nearly-in-tune singing. It was getting late after all. With a final flourish of a raffle, the evening came to a close.
Thank you for such generous support
The team at Triple FFF Brewery with quiz host Alan Carr
We cannot thank everyone enough for the support given for this wonderful evening.
We hope that those who attended had a night they will remember for years to come and will hopefully know a bit more about neuroblastoma and its devastating effects on the children and their families.
The generosity of Four Marks knows no bounds. Together we raised £6,690. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Please support our urgent appeal
Every week in the UK, around two families are told their child has neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer. We fund leading research projects to develop new, effective and kinder treatments for children with neuroblastoma.
But with the latest government guidelines about social distancing, self-isolation and working from home, community fundraising events like these are hugely affected
The impact of the coronavirus is seriously jeopardising our income. Without this money, there’s a real risk that we won’t be able to support as many research projects as we would like.