Annette Culshaw
The Great Zumba Bash...
21st July 2018 is a day which will remain in our hearts forever

It was the day of the Charity Zumba/Dance event organised, and led, by Lisa Clifford. We had 60 attendees performing their best during a series of alternate Zumba and Dance routines even those with 'L plates' strutted their stuff to a fantastic standard!

We had been selling tickets for a few weeks and Lisa was publicising the event throughout her Groups, collecting ticket sales and donations. The demand was instant! As soon as we announced that we were supporting the Harefield Transplant Appeal by cycling from Lands End to John O'Groats Lisa offered to hold this event as her contribution. Her support, and that of the members of her groups, was simply amazing and very humbling for us.
In fact, the event on the 21st July was the culmination of a series of events organised by members of the Zumba/ Dance groups. Firstly, we had a Coffee Morning hosted by our local Master Baker Linda Cobb of the Tesco Tuesday Zumba Group. This was a fantastic success – her cakes are always off the scale of gorgeousness! Linda raised a magnificent £95 for the Appeal – this was in addition to a very convivial morning with our Zumba ladies. Thank you so much Linda, your efforts and support are greatly appreciated.
The second event was a Raffle hosted by Irene and Barry Taylor. They provided us with super food and a series of games and memory challenges in their lovely garden on a perfect sunny/warm evening. Included in the evening was a Raffle with prizes donated by many people. One unusual prize was donated by Anne Walker, a neighbour of ours. It was a knitted large 'doll' golfer and it was won by Margaret Barrett.

The Raffle raised £140 for the Appeal and a special thanks must go to Irene, Frances and Sue for their magnificent effort in selling so many tickets. Thank you so much ladies. Bob was thrilled to see a cricket scoreboard in the Taylor's garden – they are avid supporters of Kent County Cricket – a subject dear to Bob's heart as well (although he is not sure who to cheer for when Kent play Lancashire!) Thank you so much Irene and Barry for a super evening and your support to us.
So, back to the 21st July – a hot, hot day during this incredible spell of hot weather. 60 people in the hall at St Peter's increased the temperature by at least another 20 degrees! Why? Because everybody was giving their all to the routines, laughing, joking and enjoying every minute. What an incredible atmosphere, Bob and I have never experienced anything like it before. It was as if everybody was there to have fun with each other and also support a very worthy cause.
Before the event, we and Lisa were very nervous as to how the morning would go. We obviously wanted it to go well but for our respective reasons we were apprehensive. We should not have worried because the fun and love in the room was such that a success was guaranteed!
At the end of the event we held a prize draw by drawing out the admission tickets for those attending. Lisa had arranged for two fantastic prizes from Tesco's, we had received a generous donation of a Chocolate Feast from Debi Hines (the wife of our Site Manager) and a number of prizes donated by Bev and Jackie two of our Thursday Zumba group.

It was particularly heartening to see a number of men present – which mean't that Bob had some support amongst so many lovely ladies! Steve Greetham and his friend Les Hewlett were the focus of much attention by turning up in white Tshirts with an 'L' on their backs. BUT hey not only did they really enjoy themselves they performed incredibly well considering it was their first attempt at the routines. Credit to them for injecting such a fun atmosphere and doing so well. We love you guys!!
The event concluded with Bob thanking Lisa for her support and generosity and to everybody for their support and generating such a fantastic atmosphere.
He then went on to say that the event had raised £440 in ticket sales and small donations but when larger individual donations were taken into account plus the Coffee Morning and the Raffle a tremendous total of £1,080 from the Zumba and Dance groups.
Words cannot describe how we feel for this support to this wonderful Charity – you will all remain in our hearts forever – the experience you gave us on this day is just unbelievable.
After all this support we really do have a Challenge on our hands – we MUST complete the ride now to repay all this love, kindness and generosity!
Thank you Lisa and everybody it was a WONDERFUL DAY
Enjoy the video and share the enjoyment of the day.
If you would like to support us by making a small donation to the Transplant Appeal. please click on the heart balloon below....