Hi Vernon & everyone,
Only just seen these latest posts - usually floating around on the forum until much later, except last night - typical!
bad news, good news, bad news time - don't shoot the messenger
Bad news 1 is that there isn't room for a 5th Panda on the stand - I will check the plan but it's unlikely and more unlikely the NEC will let me change the numbers at this stage.
Good news is that I am more than happy to have it on the stand, but it will probably mean only Barbara's 4x4 goes with it, Vernon.
Bad news 2 - the NEC stuff arrived yesterday (what a co-incidence) and it states "The following are the approved charities for the 2012 show. You may have collections on your stand for these charities only. Please do not collect for any other charities at the show.
Children in Need, Help the Heroes."
How set in stone is the chosen charity? I'm always up for bending rules where possible but sticking a pink Panda on a stand (which is actually next to the organiser's office!!

) and flouting their charity statement is a bit obvious even for me!
How about choosing a joint charity for the proceeds including one of their 2 chosen for this year? :idea: I don't see them complaining if either Children in Need or Help the Heroes is included.
Thoughts?
If this goes ahead in any form, I'd also suggest
http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/how-it-works/
We could actually raise funds by purchasing items we do anyway - I'm not going to tell you how much the local cricket club has raised from my Ebay purchases (for example), but it's worth doing if we all get involved!!!
For an auction, maybe consider CarFest South next year assuming Chris is doing it again. That would work really well with Children in Need - hint hint We could also try to get invited to put 7 Panda's on display - even more of a hint
Yes I'd be happy to be involved. Not sure if there's any way of doing what we wanted and allowing folk to gift aid the donations - I'm thinking not, as the donations aren't going directly to the charity(ies) - maybe someone could check this at a later stage though.
Enough rambling - back to the floor..........