Charitable Donations

We think that we've donated around £200,000 to various organisations over the past twenty years, mainly from the proceeds of the Grizzly.

Grizzly

About half of the monies are typically given to a few major beneficiaries and the rest to the many organisations without whom we couldn't put on the event (village halls, scouts, sports clubs, Raynet, various rescue services, PTAs, local environmental groups, etc.).

Our philosophy is to keep the funds within the Westcountry as much as possible so recipients are typically either local branches of national organisations (e.g. St. John Ambulance, RNLI) or wholly local organsations (e.g. FORCE).

The approximate totals and major beneficiaries for recent years have been as follows:
2010  £18,000 No "nominated" charities this year.
2009  £29,000 The main beneficiary was the Reece Strawbridge Youth Centre in Colyton.
2008  £15,000 No "nominated" charities this year since our costs increased a lot with only a small increase in entry fees.
2007  £23,000 SeeAbility - Hospice Care - Exeter Baby Care Unit - The Police Specials - Royal British Legion - Surfers Against Sewage - Devon Air Ambulance - St. John Ambulance - Exeter Life
2006  £18,000 FORCE - St. John Ambulance - Exmouth RNLI - Age Concern - Beer First Responders
2005  £17,000 Friends of Conservation (tsunami appeal) - St. John Ambulance
2004  £15,000 Childrens Hospice South West - Children with Leukaemia - Seeability - CLIC - St. John Ambulance
2003  £9,000
2002  £9,000
2001  £9,000
2000  £9,000
1999  £4,000
1998  £3,000
1997  £1,000

Other events

Every last penny of profits from the Colyton 5M/10K (more than £3000 these days) goes directly to the BBC Children in Need appeal and likewise all profits from the Midsummer Dream go to the The West of England School and College for young people with little or no sight - normally about £1,000 but last year was well over £2,000.

The Seaton Half was never a major charitable fundraiser but, as with the Grizzly, we gave donations to organisations which helped us on the day (St. John Ambulance, village hall committees, scouts, etc.)

We have also donated funds to many local schools for sports equipment.

 

Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.

- Confucius.