Past Events from 2008
2008 was the first full year of our club's existence. Through the hard work of the many founder members, we organised some fantastic social events to help us get to know each other, as well as some amazing charitable events which enabled us to raise thousands of pounds for local good causes.
Saturday 6 December 2008
Christmas Party
This black tie party was the club's frist Christmas event. It took place in the Library of Goldbrick House from 8pm until late. We kept the ticket price down to just £5, to include a welcome drink, as everyone brought a Secret Santa present for one of our nominated charities. A fantastic time was had by all, and our charities very much appreciated all the wonderful presents!
Friday 14 November 2008
Curry Night
We organised a curry night at this time last year, and it was such a success, that many people have asked us to repeat it. Who can beat a few beers (or martini cocktails) and a nice curry on a dark, cold November evening!? Plus it was President Neil's birthday the following day so we could all commiserate him at reaching the half way stage of his 30's.
This one was a 'straight from work' event and we ate at the Raj Tandoori Restaurant on King Street. Partners, friends and work colleagues were all very welcome and quite a few joined us.
Saturday 8 November 2008
"Go West!"
Claire West's sister Ruth came to town and we thought this would be an ideal opportunity to a) meet her and b) go out on the town for a meal, drinks and then a club. Well... any excuse to go out! A fantastic night was had by all!
Saturday, 1 November 2008
Clifton Fireworks Fiesta
Who would have thought that there are people mad enough to spend a Saturday evening in November standing about in a huge muddy field, in the freezing cold, torrential rain and howling wind? Yet that is exactly what nine people from the Bristol Bridge Rotary Club did on 1 November, when they helped man Gate 6 at the Clifton Fireworks Fiesta. Neil P, Neil G, Nick, Jon, Eszter, Claire, Fran and Andrew were very capably led by Gate 6 Leader Craig, who enjoyed spending much of his time talking in code on the walkie-talkie to "Alpha One" and "Charlie Bravo". Much entertainment was provided by trying to pick up change with frozen fingers, wringing rain water out of soaked clothing, and modelling highly flattering high-viz tabards.
Still, it wasn't all fun, fun, fun. A surprisingly large number of people turned up to these annual fireworks, so our volunteers were kept busy collecting tickets and money, and directing people towards the nice warm bonfire. And of course, the thing that kept the volunteers going was that the proceeds of this event were going to local charities. We don't yet have a final figure for how much was raised, but we'll let the club know once we have this information. In the meantime, have a browse on our Gallery for photos from this... um... enjoyable event.
Saturday, 20 September 2008
Summer Fayre
The Summer Fayre was our club's first major fundraising event, organised entirely by Bristol Bridge Rotary Club members, with a little help from friends and colleagues. The Fayre was organised in conjunction with the Bristol Music Festival, at Anchor Square in central Bristol. Numerous local tradespeople had stalls at the event, while club members ran a jumble sale, face-painting, cake sale and barbeque. A gloriously sunny day and fantastic music from the acoustic stage drew huge crowds, which meant that we sold out of burgers and cakes, and an awful lot of people got their faces painted! All in all, a great time was had by everyone.
In terms of fundraising, this event was a major success, having made a profit of over £1,300 for our supported charities. It was wonderful to see all the club pull together and work extremely hard to make the event a reality and raise so much money for charity. Thank you to everyone who helped either on the day, or in the run-up to this event!
As ever, there are plenty of photos from the day on our gallery page. In addition, if you have access to Facebook, you can listen to a radio interview we had on Bristol Community FM, plugging our Summer Fayre.
Sunday, 7 September 2008
Run for the Future
Yes, the Smurfs have popped up in Bristol once again. Not content with being the highlight of this year's Dragon Boat Festival (for which, see below!), some of our club's closet Smurfs decided to come out again and take part in the annual Run for the Future, organised by the Rotary Club of Bristol. Matt, Kevin and Alex were joined at the last minute by Eszter, who, conveniently, did not have her Smurf outfit with her. Still, the Smurfs were a big hit on the day, as celebrity runner Carol Vorderman was desparate to have her picture taken with our Smurfs. Go to our Gallery for photographic evidence!
This event was raising fund for and awareness of prostate cancer, and a mobile medical unit was even on site to enable men to get themselves checked. In addition to providing a few keen runners, members of the club, who did not fancy a 5K run, were on hand to help with marshalling and handing out medals and goodie-bags to finishers. The event hopes to have raised over £30,000 for research into and treatment of prostate cancer.
Thursday 21 August
"Fish & Ships" night
We had an opportuntiy to go round "The Matthew" in a two hour trip around Bristol Docks with a fish and chip supper. Great fun was had by all, and we'll probably do something similar again in the future.
Thursday 24 July
Private tour of Clifton Rocks Railway
Peter Davey from Severside Rotary Club came to talk to us about Clifton Rocks railway recently, and we were treated to a very enjoyable presentation. Peter was kind enough to offer us a private tour of the remains of the railway, which we followed up with drinks at the Avon Gorge. This event proved to be very popular, with all spaces being rapidly snapped up.
Sunday 22 June 2008
Charter event and BBQ
This important event marked the occasion when our club received its official Rotary Charter (RIBI No.1963) and was a very special occasion for our club, though a lot less formal than our Inauguration Dinner in March. This event brought together our members, their friends and families, Rotary dignitaries and members of other clubs from within our district who joined us in celebrating what we've achieved so far; the formation of a new, young and innovative style of Rotary club.
We were fortunate to have sole use of the Loft Room and outdoor terrace at Goldbrick House. Everyone enjoyed a relaxed afternoon of BBQ food, Pimms in the sunshine, and fun games. We raised nearly £300 for Fareshare South West at this event through our pin the tail on the donkey competition!
Go to our Galleries for pictures from this BBQ.
Sunday, 15 June 2008
Dragon Boat Racing in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support
The Rotary Club of Bristol Breakfast has organised the annual dragon boat racing festival in Bristol docks for the past several years. It has always been a fun day out and a successful fundraising event, so much so, that all the boats were quickly snapped up and reserved for teams entered by various local businesses and organisations. Our club was lucky enough to be working together with the Bristol branch of Macmillan Cancer Support, who reserved a boat and has asked for willing volunteers from our club to take part, in exchange for raising sponsorship for Macmillan.
Dragon boat racing involves 17 people working together in a long and narrow boat, with 16 people paddling on either side, and one (small!) person banging a drum and shouting encouragements to keep the team going. There are some brilliant photos of the day available on our Gallery page.
Friday 13 June 2008
Summer River Cruise
We took two boats up the River Avon in conjunction with RICS matrics (the surveyors group) and had a barbecue and free drinks at Beeses before returning to Bristol. We were raising money for the Jessie May Trust - one our club's nominated charities of the year. Have a look at our Galleries page for lots of photos from the night.
Monday, 19 May 2008
Utopia's inaugural charity golf day - in aid of GUCH
Bristol Bridge members don't just support the club's nominated charities, but a few enterprising individuals also go off and organise their own fundraising events. Such was the case of Kevin Mashford, founder and director of Utopia the interior design and fit-out company, who organised a charity golf day to raise funds for GUCH - the Grown Up Congenital Heart Patients Association.
GUCH is a charity close to Kevin's heart (ba-da-boom!), having had several major sets of surgery on his heart, and having first hand understanding of the support provided by this charity to young people and adults with congenital heart disease.
Utopia's first charity golf day raised an incredible £6,000 for GUCH, a cheque for which was presented to Beth Greenway, chairman of GUCH. Bristol Bridge is very proud to have such hard-working, passionate and generous people amongst its members.
Check out Utopia's press release about this fundraising event, and have a look at some more photos of the day on our Galleries page.
Saturday, 26 April 2008
Zip-wiring for Above and Beyond
Above and Beyond is a charity which supports the hospitals that make up the United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust, and works to enhance healthcare in the Bristol area. Amongst their many exciting fundraising events, they have previously organised sponsored zip-wire events in the Avon Gorge, but apparently this was not scary enough, so the team went one step further and organised a zip-wiring event from the top of the Bristol Oncology Centre.
The club's participation certainly brought a few smiles (and some looks of concern...) to the many onlookers and hospital patients and workers with the unveiling of their very own Mr Incredible and a flying Vicar (complete with a Scythe of Death!).
The Saturday morning started quite normally (well, normal for Bristol Bridge). The usual crew turned up ready for their marshalling duties to be greeted by our very own President (Neil Gilbert) who, rumour has it, was possibly still intoxicated from the night before having entertained the good and great of Bristol all in the name of networking!
After taking their marshalling position at the end of the zip wire to provide much cheering (and dirty laugh from Neil) for all those brave souls making their way down the zip wire, talk soon turned to the club's turn on the zip wire and in particular the rumour that an appearance was to be made by Mr Incredible. Not to be upstaged, the club's Secretary (Matt Ashley) soon appeared with a bag of props guaranteed to provide much amusement to the crowd (and a probable appearance by the Avon and Somerset police helicopter if Matt's choice of clothing combination had been approved - come to one of our Thursday morning breakfast's on the Glass Boat and all will be revealed!).
After much cheering (and tea, coffee, biscuits and cakes - thanks Nicky) the call came from above that it was time! The moment had arrived and those taking part in the zip wire donned their costumes. To much amusement from the crowd, these included Mr Incredible, the "Vicar" and lady with bum cheeks showing, all who climbed into their harness and safety gear and weaved through the hospital to the roof ready for their decent.
Nerves started to show (we won't tell you who!) and one by one they put their faith in the wire that was to bring them to the ground. The Vicar said a prayer and leapt into thin air trying not to take his own eye out with his scythe, the "bottom" wiggled at the crowd as its owner made her descent and Mr Incredible scored a perfect 10 out 10 with his dive off the roof of the building.
The day ended in usual club tradition with a few beers in the local pub whilst trying to convince the Vicar it was best that he didn't cycle home with his outfit on….
A great day was had by all supporting a very worthwhile cause and helping Above and Beyond Charities raise in excess of £10,000 for the Heart of Bristol Appeal. Check out our Galleries for more photos.
29 March 2008
The Inauguration Dinner, at Byzantium
The Inauguration Dinner is a landmark event in any Rotary club's life. It marks the official formation of the club and is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate all the hard work and enthusiasm involved in setting up a new club. Most of our members were there on Saturday 29 March, 2008, as well as many people from the Rotary Club of Bristol Breakfast, which was the club with the initial idea of setting up a new club for younger people, and has provided enormous support for us to get us up and running. A fantastic night was had by all, despite the clocks going forward, which caused us to lose an hour's celebration. Check out our Galleries page for loads of photos from the night.
19 January 2008
Winter Warmer Drinks
Saturday 19 January, 2008, saw the club's first fundraising event. The Winter Warmer drinks event held at Goldbrick House was a friendly and relaxing night, which enabled young business people from the city to socialise together and raise money through a raffle. The total amount raised was £900 for the benefit of CEED a small charity based in St Paul's whose mission is to 'improve the economic well being of those currently disadvantaged in the labour market and in business, in particular those from minority ethnic groups'.