Hand Aid Funds - we have reached the target!

We are pleased to announce that the trombone-ometer has hit the top and this signals the end of this chapter of the Hand Aid story. The fund has just broken through the £30,000 mark and the Hand Aid team and Hunstanton Concert Band would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has donated to the cause. Becky is so excited to be travelling to Scotland on the 19th November when she will be fitted with her new i-Limb!

To everyone who has given so generously of both their time and money we offer you our warmest thanks for helping us to help Becky. We also thank once again those local organisations who rose to the challenge and gave significant amounts of money to boost Hand Aid. It is a measure of the strength of support that Becky has received when you think it took just 2½ years to reach the target.

For more information about Hand Aid, and the future of the fund, please email Rachael Davies, the Treasurer, at handaid@hunstantonconcertband.co.uk

You can read below about many of the people and the stories behind the fund-raising.

Hand Aid 4 - "A Magnificent Concert"

On October 20th, 2012 Hunstanton Concert Band presented the fourth in a series of concerts to raise money for Hand Aid. This was the third concert held in The Union Church, Hunstanton by kind permission of the Officers and Deacons of the church and we are most grateful to them for their wonderful support.

The church was packed to listen to an ambitious programme of music which started with The Magnificent Seven and included numbers featuring music made famous by The Beatles, pop supergroup Queen and Elvis Presley and also, by way of a contrast, pieces with a classical flavour such as Carmin Burana, The Flower Duet and Coronation March. Our Director of Music, Chris Gutteridge, also spliced into the programme 12th Street rag, featuring the trumpet section and The Trombone Rag featuring, yes you've guessed it, the trombone section of the band! The concert was a sell-out and £793.04 was raised during the evening for Hand Aid.

Alf Ball, the Band Manager, spoke and thanked those who helped with the refreshments and selling the tickets and introduced the band's Concert Secretary and Webmaser, Tony Foster, who spoke at some length about the Hand Aid story. Click on the link below for the full text of the speech -

                 Hand Aid Speech October 20th, 2012.

A Charity Horse Ride at Sandringham

October 14th, 2012, a bright, crisp autumn morning as more than 200 horse boxes arrive in the grounds of Sandringham. Soon the riders were preparing their mounts for a ride around the royal estate - by kind permission of The Queen. This wonderful event was arranged by Anne and Andrew Holt after a suggestion from Peter Taylor, Trina Barrow's partner. Peter has often provided St. John Ambulance First Aid services for these horsey days and was present at this event.


Also in a supporting role was Kevin Kent the Norfolk representative of RAYNET, the Radio Amateurs' Emergency Network, who together with his colleagues provided an excellent radio contact service helping to ensure that the day was made safe for everyone.

From 9.30 a.m. onwards the horses and riders started out on a choice of rides - 5, 8 or 10 miles around the estate, mostly over tracks not usually open to the public. There was no competitive element to the day and it was obvious that everyone thoroughly enjoyed the chance to take a leisurely ride around The Queen's estate.





Everyone who completed the circuit was awarded a rosette and there were lots of smiles as riders collected their honours and then went to Jack's Snacks wagon for a bacon or sausage roll and hot chocolate (with marshamallows of course).


All of the riders paid a fee for the ride and Mrs. Holt kindly donated everything to Hand Aid - which amounted to the magnificent sum of £2,632! A huge thank you to everyone involved, especially to all of the riders - and their horses!

Here are some photos to give you an idea of what happened - click on a thumbnail to see the bigger picture...

An Amazing, Anonymous Donation!

July, 2012 Latest news! After an entirely unexpected, and incredibly large, donation of £10,000 the trombone-ometer slide had to be redesigned! The target of £23,000 has been achieved and Becky has placed the order for a new i-Limb with Touch Bionics and is scheduled to be in Edinburgh on November 19th for the fitting and basic training. Fantastic news! The Hand Aid Trustees have now obtained guidance from the manufacturing company regarding the costs of ongoing maintenance, including the cost of replacement 'gloves' (that's the artificial skin to you and me). Before this latest very large donation the fund still had about £9,000 to go. As there are still plans in the pipeline for more fund-raising ideas (the Hand Aid 4 concert is already booked) it has been decided to raise the target to a final £30,000. This will allow the Hand Aid Trustees to carry on the good work and help Becky service and maintain her new i-Limb for a while after purchase.

Local Tennis Clubs support Hand Aid!

From the very beginning the Hand Aid project has received incredible support from a number of local tennis clubs.

Fakenham Club, where Becky is the ladies team captain, ran a tournament last year which raised nearly £800.



Every year the ladies of the West Norfolk Tennis Club run a charity tournament and on two occasions they have given donations totalling £830 to Hand Aid.
The Aldiss Park and Stebbing Tennis Clubs have also supported Hand Aid andd given generous donations to the fund.

Friends who play tennis as well as opponents from the West Norfolk, Castleacre and City leagues have all been very generous with their donations especially with their sponsorship of the Peddars Way Walk. So much organisation and effort has gone into all of these fund-raising activities - thank you everyone!

The Peddars Way Walk

This wonderful effort on June 23rd, 2012 by a small band of intrepid walkers raised a total of £2,396 for Hand Aid. This money represents the pledges of lots of folk who backed both the walkers and Hand Aid with their money. Thank you! Read the full story at Hand Aid Peddars Way Walk - but do keep a box of tissues handy!

The photo shows Becky looking somewhat relieved beneath the signpost marking the northern end of the Peddars Way.

Another fantastic Donation

After recent press coverage Hand Aid was surprised to receive a donation of an incredible £1,000. Through these pages Becky and the Hand Aid Trustees would like to offer the donors sincere thanks for this really big boost to the fund.

Fakenham Rotary Club

Not long after the Hand Aid project was started those very kind folk at the Fakenham Rotary Club, in November 2010, pledged £750 for which we were most grateful. That pledge has now been honoured becoming a real donation and the money has been added to the growing fund. Once again, we would like to offer all the Club members our heartfelt thanks for this wonderful gesture.

A surprise gift - just before Christmas!

In December 2010, four members of Hunstanton Concert Band responded to a request for a 'very small ensemble' and played carols at a local hotel function. Calling themselves Hunstanton Concert Brass they thoroughly enjoyed the experience - and Becky was one of the four! This year the quartet (Alf Ball on Trumpet, Katrina Barrow on Trumpet, Becky Palmer on Trombone and Tony Foster on Tuba) were asked to play at the Christmas Singalong held at St. Edmund's church.The church was packed and everyone - players, singers bell ringers and the audience - were smiling by the end of the evening. Suddenly Counsellor Richard Bird was called to the front where he made a short speech. He presented a bucket of cash, collected at the recent Carol Concert in the Town Hall, to Alf Ball, the leader of Hunstanton Concert Brass, and said, "The organisers of the Carol Concert held in the Town Hall have decided that this collection should go to a worth charity of your choosing!". There was a bit of a nudge and a wink about this - the quartet instantly thought, "Hand Aid!". So, after counting all the cash, Hand Aid has benefited to the tune of £200.10! What a surprise - and what a wonderful thought by the organisers of the Carol Concert. Thank you to Richard and to all of your colleagues behind this popular annual Christmas event in the Town Hall.

A large donation given by Hunstanton & District Lions Club

Hand Aid has received yet another wonderful donation - this time from our local Lions Club. The members have generously given £500 to our charity. A very big 'Thank You' to the Club and its members for supporting Becky so magnificently.

The Lions Club of Hunstanton & District was chartered in 1980, its members wishing to help the less fortunate people within the Hunstanton Area. Their aims were simple:-

* Community Service,
* Fund-raising to help the less fortunate within the community and further afield,
* and have fun and fellowship whilst doing it.

The Lions Club of Hunstanton & District has continued to go from strength to strength, and after over 30 years, the same aims are still holding true.

The club is in Region 1, Zone A of District MD105EA, and is always looking for new members and will offer a warm welcome to all visitors.

A major donation from the Sandringham Flower Show!

In September, 2010 an application for a donation was sent to the Charity Committee of the Sandringham Flower Show. After the 2011 show the Committee considered our application and have very kindly donated the magnificent sum of £1,500 to Hand Aid. This donation has given the fund raising effort a big lift and we are most grateful to the Sandringham Estate Cottage Horticultural Society Trust for their very generous support.




Sandringham Flower Show is one of the most prestigious horticultural events in the East of England. Now in its 130th year, it is much more than just a Flower Show. It is a unique event offering not only the best in horticulture but also an excellent day out, filled with family entertainment.

Set in the magnificent surroundings of Sandringham Park with Sandringham House and Sandringham Church as a backdrop, this one-day Show attracts around 20,000 visitors each year. From the beginning the Show has been privileged to enjoy Royal patronage and traditionally the Show's Royal Patron attends the Show.




Soon after the donation was received, a reception was held at the Sandringham Visitor Centre for representatives of all those who had been so generously supported by the scheme. The Chairman, David Reeve, told the guests that approximately £500,000 had been donated since H.M the Queen's Silver Jubilee and a total of £26,000 had been donated during 2011. The band's Manager, Alf Ball, and the Concert Secretary, Tony Foster, attended the function on behalf of Becky and the band.

The third Hand Aid Concert

On Saturday the 1st October, 2011 we presented the third concert in the Hand Aid series at the Union Church, Westgate in Hunstanton (by kind permission of Rev. David Hulse). A capacity audience enthusiastically applauded the wide variety of music which included numbers featuring music from the James Bond and the Harry Potter films amongst others. The total raised on the night was the magnificent sum of £794.63. We are most grateful for all the donations of wonderful cakes for the interval refreshments and also to all the generous folk who attended the concert. Thank you!

The second Hand Aid Concert

- well, it was brand new actually - oh, you know what I mean!

Hand Aid Concert Two held on Saturday,20th November, 2010 set a new record for the number of players on stage for Hunstanton Concert Band! 27 members were so pleased to be given another chance to raise money for such a worthy cause. An appreciative audience listened to a wide range of music and were most generous in their support of the raffle - there were so many prizes it seemed that just about everyone won something! The whole evening, with the raffle, raised a grand total of £690.17 to help the trombone-ometer climb even further up the scale. A very big 'Thank You!' to the organisers, ticket sellers, raffle ticket sellers, refreshment providers, programme and ticket priners, members of the band, Bridget for using the Glebe House School bus to chauffeur some members to the venue and the Revd. Adrian Bell for very kindly allowing us to use the church of St. Peter & St. Paul, Fakenham to stage the concert. Also, thank you to everyone who came!

Sponsored Swim

Our very own tenor sax player, John Doubleday, took part in the 2010 one mile Great East Swim at Alton Water Reservoir near Ipswich. Some swimmers were forced to retire early but not only did John complete the swim in adverse conditions, with high winds and choppy waters, but he also worked hard to accumulate sponsorships of £750 for Hand Aid! This magnificent sum was achieved mostly by a combination of sponsorships from King's Lynn and Hunstanton Rotary Clubs, Fenland Gliding Club and members of the Hunstanton Concert Band. John had family support for the swim - he was joined in the water by his son Peter and daughter Ruth.

Our thanks to the Lynn News for the details.

Hunstanton Rotary Club

We now have a firm pledge from Hunstanton Rotary club for the magnificent sum of £1,000 which has really helped the jolly old trombone-ometer move upwards. A huge vote of thanks to our local Rotarians for their enthusiastic support!

The original Hand Aid Concert - the one that started it all!

The appeal was launched on April 10th, 2010 with a special concert presented by the Hunstanton Concert Band in the Union Church, Hunstanton.

We are most grateful to the Minister and Church Committee who very kindly, and enthusiastically, have supported the appeal by allowing us to use the Church.

As you can see from the poster the original concert was a sell out. The gate receipts, together with donations, got the appeal off to a magnificent start with a total of £1,470!