On Friday 10th June small groups of people carrying large cheques popped up in various locations in Kirkwall, as the funds raised by the 2011 Orkneycommunities.co.uk calendar were disbursed.
The total funds raised were £1875, so CLAN Orkney, Macmillan, and CLIC Sargent as the three charities benefitting each received £625.
In an homage to the calendar itself, the pictures recording the handover of cheques took place in locations that featured prominently on it, namely the Corn Slip (June), Bridge Street (January), and the King Haakon Street playpark (March).
David Tullock as Chair of Macmillan in Orkney received their cheque on the Corn Slip, appropriately so as his childhood misadventure in falling into the Basin from it is recorded in the Orkney Image Library, the source of the calendar pictures.
Orkney's record-breaking fund-raising jet skiers are setting off again on Sunday, this time going from Scapa to Monaco. That's right. Five thousand miles. On a jetski.
To get a flavour of what an undertaking this is, just have a look at a bit of open water practice in Hoy Sound...
Colin Gregg (44), Dugy Ward (40) and Gary Forber (51) will be jet skiing from Scapa Pier across to the Scottish Mainland, down the coast, across the English Channel, along the north coast of France, following the Bay of Biscay, around Spain, down past Portugal, around to the Rock of Gibraltar through the Straights of Gibraltar, up the Mediterranean and completing their challenge in Monaco.
All the monies raised for the Orkneycommunities Charity Calendar have now been collected, and all the outgoings and expenses paid, and a respectable profit has been made. This will be disbursed equally between three cancer charities which are prominent locally, viz. CLAN, Macmillan and CLIC Sargent.
The calendar featured pictures from the Orkney Image Library, with all pictures contributed freely. Production costs were partially underwritten through sponsorship of the months, with all time spent on production, distribution and administration also donated free of charge. Sales were carried out by local retailers who were generous in their support of the project, selling the calendar for no markup, and by the members of Orkneycommunities.co.uk's management committee.
So what was the bottom line in the end?
A total of £1819.61 was raised, meaning Orkneycommunities will be handing over £606.54 to each of the charities.
Calendar editor and organiser Steven Heddle professed himself "delighted" and "relieved" at this result:
"We produced 1500 of the calendars, before discovering a lot of other people had the same idea for their groups and charities. In a crowded calendar marketplace it's great to have raised as much as we have, and we're very grateful to the outlets and sponsors, and to the contributors of the pictures which made it the success it has been."
A number of boxes of calendars were left over after taking them off sale, and they have been donated equally to the three charities to disburse or sell as they see fit. If you would like a copy please contact CLAN, Macmillan or CLIC Sargent locally.
A small number have been held back to gift to the picture contributors, if they wish to get in touch with Steven at
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.
6 men from the Red Watch of Kirkwall Airport's Fire Service aim to climb the highest mountain in each of Scotland, England and Wales in less than 24 hours, and raise a lot of money for charity in the process.
Neil Tait, Andrew Rendall, Neil Robertson, David Hamilton, Grieg Rorie and Scott Milne are undertaking the 3 Peaks challenge to raise funds for Cancer Research - the world's leading charity dedicated to beating cancer through research.
Knitting and dancing- don't try this folks, it could take your eye out. Just concentrate on the dancing and leave the knitting to the people who will benefit as a result. Forget butterflies flapping their wings over the Sea of China and creating a hurricane, and participate in chaos Orkney-style- the Stereo Lobsters blow up the storm and women in Zimbabwe go into business.
Tonight Los Lobsters are playing Matchies to raise funds for Go Go Olive, a charity helping families in Zimbabwe. Only a fiver to get in and have good time, it's such a no-brainer I'm not even going to think about it. Go in your multitudes but leave space for me.
Here at the Allaboutorkney Free Press (motto: You Get What You Pay For) we are delighted to give a charity event a free plug, and indeed encourage other ones to get in touch and have a free article or listing on The Blue Window.
The Blue Window hopes to provide a service online akin to that of The Blue Door (see below), i.e. a free shop window to charitable or non-profit organisations.
This might take the form of providing advance notice or reports of events and fundraisers, promoting sponsored activities and providing links to Justgiving pages. Or it might just be saying who is in The Blue Door.
If you are interested in being featured here just get in touch, preferably by email and including the copy for the message you wish to get across.
Don't forget to look at the Events and Activities page as well to see what is going on in Orkney just now!
About the Blue Door
The Blue Door is a shop in Victoria Street, Kirkwall, which acts as temporary charity shop for organisations in Orkney who wish to raise funds. The organisation typically will be in for a fortnight, then move out to make way for the next one. The premises are made available to organisations by Mrs Rita Jamieson, the owner.
All About Orkney and The Blue Window are not connected to the Blue Door in any way, but admires its objectives and hopes to emulate them here.
