A big, fat, fundraising Quiz! - North London Cares

Please note: this post is 114 months old and The Cares Family is no longer operational. This post is shared for information only

I've been going to the King's Cross film club on a Tuesday night for almost a year now. I quickly came to learn that sharing a cup of tea, a slice of cake and watching a film means so much. One neighbour in particular explained how the film club was the highlight of her week – one of the only times she gets out or she speaks to anyone.

When (NLC staff) Laura and Emily told me about the Thames Path Challenge, it seemed a great opportunity to raise awareness and funds for North London Cares. Fundraising seemed a bit daunting at first, so me and another volunteer, Jess, came up with a plan. We decided to do a quiz night.

"If you are considering doing a fundraising event, I would thoroughly recommend it."

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Emily was awesome and helped us plan the event. We promoted the quiz night through social media and posters and over the weeks, we really got creative with quiz questions and round ideas. We were also lucky to have the help of other volunteers, especially Liz who came up with a celebrity round! Alongside the quiz, we boosted funds by selling raffle tickets. With the help of Emily's expertise, we got some absolutely amazing prizes donated by generous local businesses.

The day of the quiz night finally arrived and it was show time! It was hard to know how many people would turn up, but we needn't have worried, for as soon as the doors opened, people came! It was a great mix of our friends, family, colleagues, volunteers and North London Cares supporters. The night flew by and everyone got well into the festivities and rounds.

It wasn't all plain sailing as we did face some challenges along the way. We had a venue change, some differences of opinion, prize dilemmas and planning was time consuming. Raffle ticket sales were also slow at first, but after pestering everyone sales soon increased (thanks to our colleagues at the Environment Agency Hatfield and Great Ormond Street Hospital who brought most of the raffle tickets!). Any challenges were forgotten by the time of the event, with the rounds going down well, the drinks flowing and everyone getting into the spirit of things.

If you are considering doing a fundraising event, I would thoroughly recommend it. We raised around £300 for North London Cares! There will be some ups and downs, but overall the experience is sure to be a positive one.