Fundraising

HANDS & Gillingham Volunteer Centre has always been a very pro-active charity. We run regular fundraising activities and endeavour to keep a high profile in the local community.

Like all charities, we rely for most of our funds from either grants, sponsorship or the generous donations of people in the local area, for which we are always very grateful indeed, for without such generosity we could not deliver the wide range of services that we do to the more vulnerable members of our community.

We have always spent any money raised wisely, prudently and in a very professional manner so that we can make every penny count! But rather than simply ask for financial donations, we like to try and give something back to those who help us whenever we can.

We do this in a number of ways by putting on our own events, such as quiz nights and social evenings. In June 2006 we really pulled out all the stops and put on a spectacular concert at Rochester Cathedral.

We approached rock legend and keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman and the Dean of Rochester Cathedral, Adrian Newman, with an idea for a fundraising event and both agreed wholeheartedly to support us. The result was a fantastic performance of Rick's modern oratorio 'The New Gospels'.

The show featured Rick Wakeman himself, with
his son Adam and full supporting band, together with the 40 piece English Chamber Choir conducted by Guy Protheroe, international tenor Ramon Remedios and TV actor Garfield Morgan as narrator.

The show was a complete sell-out and raised both much-needed funds and our profile locally. There was even a 'meet the performers' reception afterwards and Rick later said that it was one of the best organised concerts he had done and has since become one of our patrons.

We hope this was just the first of many more similar events - so, watch this space for details of forthcoming fundraising activities !!!