A group of volunteers in East Cheshire has shown their determination to not let lockdown get in the way of their fundraising efforts by donating £65k to the NSPCC since the start of the Pandemic.

The East Cheshire Events Committee has been doing charity work in the region for over a century, but the Lockdown brought barriers to their traditional ways of working.

The group is known in the Region for putting on events such as golf days, Christmas balls, pigeon clay shooting events, and lunches. But as government rules put in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19 meant that people could not gather indoors, the group had to rethink how they worked.

The East Cheshire Events Committee; which currently has 13 members; continued its fundraising activities through a series of online events.

This included events such as a virtual wellness retreat, balloon races, and Christmas story times – all delivered over Zoom with presenters brought in to deliver the sessions online rather than in person.

Josephine Wilson, the group’s president, said:- “When lockdown started, I was determined not to let the East Cheshire Events Committee fall away. I’ve been a member for 40 years and the weight of the history of the group has meant I would do whatever I could to ensure it continued. Going digital meant some of us had to learn skills we didn’t previously have, but it kept us going. We have a diverse age range, from 30-80 years old, and some of us have had our own businesses. That gives us a large bank of skills and a certain confidence that we can pull something off. When we’re looking at staging an event and we need to sell something like 350 tickets because of high overheads, we know we have the ability to make that happen. I would say the key to our success is that we work together as a team and ensure it’s not just one person leading everything. If something requires a specific set of skills, the member most experienced in that field will lead the event.”

Janette Drew, NSPCC Community Fundraising Officer in the North West, has been working with the committee.  She said:- “It’s been incredibly inspiring to see the East Cheshire Events Committee work. Their determination throughout the pandemic was encouraging during those difficult days. Charities like the NSPCC need every penny they can get, so for the volunteers to ensure they could fundraise despite the Lockdown was hugely valuable. They have an amazing teamwork ethic and the bank of skills within the group means they can carry out almost any task they put their mind to. Now that we are all getting back into the swing of ‘normal’ life, it is exciting to see the East Cheshire Events Committee get back into its more traditional fundraising mode. There are some exciting events in the pipeline in the East Cheshire area, thanks to them.”