With all the recent fund-raising for the Rainbow Warrior III we in the Telford & Wrekin Greenpeace network felt we needed to step up to the plate and get on the fund raising trail ourselves.
Alongside the fantastic Emily and her auction of a Rainbow Collection of hand crafted tealight holders and the tenacious Katie who ran the Brighton Marathon for Greenpeace, we decided to hold a Rainbow Warrior Fundraiser Gig. The good people at local music venue The Haygate were more than happy to give us a slot and so the planning commenced!
We thought that the night needed a running theme and so asked the bands performing if they would play a rainbow themed song in tribute to the Rainbow Warrior. All three bands agreed! Oh, and everything needs cake! After a call-out on our Facebook group loads of people offered to do a bit of baking in the name of Greenpeace.
Of course the mainstay of fundraising is a raffle. After once again hitting the facebook page our networks own 'Bicycle Repair Man' offered our first prize, a reconditioned bicycle!
One final thing was needed, a mascot! For months we had been jokingly asking if we were going to get any 'Cardboard Warriors' for fundraising purposes but all of a sudden it seemed like a really good idea (!?) so we made one ourselves and very realistic it was too!And so the day came, we spent the afternoon hanging campaign banners around the venue and preparing things for the night ahead.
After an introduction to the evening by Matt & Emily the first band up were Fish Bowl Riot, who offered up a punk rendition of the theme tune of childrens TV show Rainbow in tribute to the Rainbow Warrior. Meanwhile our lovely volunteers were moving amongst the crowd, taking donations and selling cakes & raffle tickets with the Cardboard Warrior bobbing along with them.
The next band up were Cytotoxic, who Greenpeace Telford's own Doug drums for. They offered us a rock rendition of the youtube sensation The Double Rainbow Song (interspersed with the odd riff from Rainbow's Since You've Been Gone!) to a massive response from the crowd.
Next up we drew the raffle. Third prize, a Greenpeace canvas bag stuffed with Greenpeace goodies, went to a lucky lady by the name of Hannah. The second prize of a goodie bag including a limited edition Greenpeace tshirt went to the lucky Ian and the first prize of a goodie bag and a reconditioned bicycle went to a man by the name of Roberts.
Last up, the funky musical stylings of Tyburn Drop. For their tribute to the Rainbow Warrior we had another rendition of The Double Rainbow Song, this time a very 'Shatner-esque' spoken word version performed by drummer & vocalist Mike which went down a storm with the audience.
All in all, it was a fantastic night! Everyone enjoyed themselves and we raised over £200 for the Rainbow Warrior. Many thanks to everyone involved in the organisation & smooth running of the evening, to Tina & Rich at The Haygate, to those who baked cakes, to Fish Bowl Riot, Cytotoxic & Tyburn Drop for their stunning performances and, of course, all those who paid to get in or donating money on the night. We really can't do this without your help, so thank you very much for your support!
Despite cramming in so many fund-raising activities Doug found the time to make this fantastic video of our exploits, featuring snippets from both Cytotoxic & Tyburn Drop's take on the Double Rainbow Song and loads more!
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