Member Article

Marquee company helps local Heart Charity

Rotherham based charity Start-a-Heart24:7 has successfully hosted a fundraising event for heart failure awareness for the second year in a row with the help of marquee company Gala Tent Ltd. The charity’s founder, Carrie Platts created the organisation after her father, am-dram stalwart Stuart Lister passed away from sudden heart failure in May 2013. Carrie, with the help of her mother Trish Lister, started the organisation because of how few Defibrillators (AEDs) are available in the Rotherham community 24 hours a day.

Start-a-Heart24:7 aims to provide access, education and awareness of AEDs in the community. The group raises funds to support the purchase of external security boxes; these are to ensure 24/7 access to both new and existing AEDs.

In August 2013, Start-a-Heart24:7 held their first fun day at the Woodman Pub in Woodlaithes Village. The event raised in excess of £8,000 including a private gift of £2,000 by a local resident who was affected by the appeal. It was fitting that the first AED was placed in Woodlaithes Village as a thank you to the community. The unit was installed in April 2014 and residents were invited to familiarisation training held by the South Yorkshire Ambulance.

With assistance from Start-a-Heart24:7, two further units at the Bob Mason Pavilion in Wickersley and the Rockingham Arms in Wentworth have been provided. The next installation will take place in Letwell.

The charity had a very successful day again at this year’s fun day held for a second year running at the Woodman Pub in Woodlaithes village. The event was attended by members of the local community, and helped raise a whopping £7,494.61. There were family activities, games, live music and food from local vendors. Comments on the day have encouraged Carrie and the team to make it an annual event going forward, with lots more ideas for SAH 2015 to be held on August Bank holiday.

The Gala Tent gazebos were used to house the family fare games & stalls in, such as hook-a-duck, coconut shy, face painting, human fruit machine. On Gala Tent’s involvement in the event, Carrie had the following to say;

“They proved invaluable to the event, as it was a sunny day so provided shade for the activities & volunteers running the areas. The Gala Tent pop up gazebos are extremely easy to assemble, which helped us tremendously on the day

Gala Tent responded to my initial request promptly for assistance with providing tents for the event. We were able to go down to view the tents & collect them in plenty of time prior to the event. We were so impressed with the structure & durability of the tents that we purchased one for our Hog Roast business.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Michaela Stafford .