Member Article

Gala Tent sponsor children's charity shooting for dragons den stars

Yorkshire-based commercial marquee and gazebo supplier and manufacturer Gala Tent was proud to sponsor the Peter Jones Foundation Enterprise Charity’s annual Clay Pigeon Shooting Event recently.

Including Dragon’s Den star Jenny Campbell and Gala Tent MD Jason Mace, over one hundred influential and generous VIPs helped to raise over £135,000 for the enterprise education initiatives and the Forgotten Children programmes. Through the years, the success of the fundraising events has helped the Foundation raise over £2.3million.

Gala Tent’s print and branding division Gala Graphics, based in the Dearne Valley, created the brochures, pop up banners, and promotional flags for the event, which was held at the exclusive Royal Berkshire Shooting School.

The event included ten shooting station events, with prizes for Top Gun, Top Team and Top Lady competition, followed by champagne reception and three course dinner and auction of several ‘money can’t buy’ experiences to raise funds for the charity.

Jason Mace, Managing Director of Gala Tent, said, “It was a great day. We didn’t win the Shooting tournament but came a respectable fifth place. The Peter Jones Foundation is the only teaching project where you can learn to make money, and really get set up with the best start. This is something totally different and adds value to our great country. This is why I like to offer support.”

Chris Winterbourne - Managing Director of event hiring firm Your Event Cover, who donated a 9m x 24m event marquee to the auction prizes - also attended and played on the Gala team, and said, “It was a fantastic day of events which I really enjoyed, even though I’m not an avid shooter I still had a great time, and it was nice to offer support to an event that does so much good for young people.”

In 2011, Jason Mace won the prestigious entrepreneur of the year award at the Chamber of Commerce ceremony. Soon after receiving the honour, the National Enterprise Academy was established at Sheffield College, and Jason was approached by Graham Tidd to assist with offering 16 – 18 year olds the opportunity to undertake a one-year BTEC Diploma in Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, as part of the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy. Mace created a business challenge for students attending, in which they would devise and design a children’s or pet’s gazebo, with entrepreneurial guidance from Mace, and then pitch their ideas to a Dragon’s Den-style panel. He found the process so rewarding that he has been involved with the Peter Jones Foundation ever since.

Peter Jones said, “I would like to send my personal thanks to Jason Mace and Gala Tent. Your generosity helped us raise an amazing £135,000 and, together with our charity golf event, which took place last month, we have already raised almost £200,000 of vital funds this year! Your kindness will benefit the thousands of children that we support through our enterprise education initiatives and our Forgotten Children programmes. I believe that with the right mix of opportunity and support, every young person has the potential to achieve great things and the right to a brighter future. We are focused on increasing the numbers of young people we work with and the impact we have, and I could not be more grateful for the contribution you have made to enable the Foundation to do this.

“The funds we raise help us to deliver pioneering enterprise activities in over six hundred UK schools, supporting more than ten thousand children to date. Through our Forgotten Children programme we also support causes that work with some of the most disadvantaged children in the UK. Some of the recent good causes we have been able to support include Alexander Devine, which provides a dedicated children’s hospice service for all children with life-limiting and life-threatening illnesses in Berkshire and beyond, and Daisy’s Dreams, which offers support to children and their families through bereavement.”

Founded in 1999 from a table top operation Gala Tent has grown to sell over 15,000 tents each year, along with around 90,000 event accessories.

Gala Tent is a preferred contract supplier for organisations including the military, NHS, the South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service, South Yorkshire Police Service, St John’s Ambulance and AA, market operators as well as to thousands of homeowners nationally.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by James Lead .