Woah! We’re half-way there!
This Donation Drive is all possible through the amazing support of the public, some fabulous fundraising events, delivery of our Learning Disability and Autism Awareness training, and some larger donations from some wonderful organisations.
We’d like to give you a recap on what we’ve been up to, as well as some information of what’s to come over the next few months.
April was filled with fundraisers!
At the start of the month we held our first ever Gig Buddies pub quizzes. The quizzes took place on Thursday 3rd April in Edinburgh, and Friday 4th in Livingston. Thanks to our wonderful friends at Leith Depot and the Chain Runner for hosting, and thanks to our fabulous volunteers Fulvio, Beth, and Heather for writing/hosting the events with us!
Emma, a Gig Buddies volunteer said:
Brilliant night!
In Edinburgh, Gig Buddies member Callum and his family took home the prize of a selection of cans from our friends at Pilot Beer, while in Livingston ‘The Goo Goo Gilmours’ won the top prize, a £50 gift voucher, gifted by Chain Runner to spend on food and drink, with runners up ‘Snut it Up’ claiming the runners up prize of a £25 voucher, and ‘Thinkin Park’ coming in third winning a round of drinks for the team. Our Livingston event finished with a great raffle, with lots of prizes from local businesses, volunteers, and even more beer from our friends at Pilot! Loads of people have requested we host more pub quizzes, and we’ve listened. Look out for these after the summer!
Kirsty said:
Coby had a great time, even if we did rubbish.
We ended April with a gig hosted by our friends at Purple Orange Arts Venue in Bathgate. Four brilliant bands; MIND23T, Lexie Macleod, Minor Kings, and Off the Rails (featuring Gig Buddies Edinburgh member Callum on the drums), bought us a great night of tunes. We then held another huge raffle with lots of fantastic prizes donated from local businesses, volunteers, and the staff and community at Purple Orange. We finished off with a Gig Buddieskaraoke session.
Janice said:
Was a great night, we all had fun. Was lovely meeting other members and volunteers too.
Overall, our 3 events in April raised an incredible £1139! This all goes towards our aim of improving the social lives of adults with a learning disability, and autistic adults. We will use this money to continue to provide more opportunities for our members to get out to events in their local communities and beyond!
These boots are made for walking!
April also saw a team of Gig Buddies complete the Glasgow Kiltwalk. Our fantastic team have raised over £1000 for Gig Buddies. Gig Buddies volunteer Ed says: ‘Myself and Thomas will be donning the Tartan and taking on the Mighty Stride, a whopping 23 miles! Thomas and I were matched by Gig Buddies in 2023 and have enjoyed countless nights out together. We love our dance music, staying up late and dancing the night away. Our friendship was made possible by Gig Buddies for Thera Trust.’
Donations are still open if you wish to congratulate our Kiltwalk team on their achievement.
We’ll also be lacing up our walking boots for the Edinburgh Kiltwalk in September, so please get in touch if you’d like to raise money for Gig Buddies!
You’re having a laugh!
We have more fundraising fun on the horizon. In June, the wonderful ‘Crossmylaugh Comedy’ will be hosting a fabulous night of live comedy in support of Gig Buddies. The event will be at the Glad Café in Glasgow on Tuesday 17th June, and you can get discounted Early Bird tickets now until May 10th!
Book tickets to the Crossmylaugh Comedy Night
Get your groove on!
We’re also gearing up to launch an online raffle of vinyl and music merch! Tickets will be sold via our Raisely fundraising site. We’re still collecting prizes, so keep an eye out on this launching in the future. If you have anything you’d like to donate please contact [email protected]
Woah! We’re halfway there!
We’re so thrilled to be halfway to our goal, and we can’t wait for the upcoming activities we have planned. If you’re able to donate to our campaign, please do. If you can share it with friends, family, and colleagues that’s just as important in spreading our message.
Every penny raised helps us to enable adults with a learning disability and autistic adults live an active social life, get out to more gigs, and makes the ordinary… ordinary.