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Russell Saxby
28th-February-2005, 06:45 PM
A few weeks back I travelled down to Brighton for the Events for Charity (otherwise known as Stomin' Fridays in Brighton) I had a great night :clap: Great music, lots of fabulous dances, a good few drinks :cheers: (something that does appear to be frowned upon if you read the other threads but hey-ho :whistle: ) Looking forward to getting down there for another dance in the not so distant future.

Anyway when I got back I noticed the thread about the price of freestyles about them being too expensive.

Out of curiosity I decided to have a look at the Events for Charity website http://www.eventsforcharity.co.uk/ if memory serves me right it cost me £8 (reasonable IMO) to get in, but I do not remember seeing any literature stating how much of the entrance fee was donated to charity but as I mentioned earlier I was drinking :whistle: I could have missed something.

Unfortunately, I cannot get the website to check, I have been trying for about 2 weeks or so, and everytime I try, I get a blank screen :sad: and then it locks out :angry: it is still trying as I type, so no doubt I will have to restart
my pc in a minute. So I guess my questions are

1) Is it just me, am I doing something wrong, or are there others who cannot view this website?
2) Anyone know how much of my £8 went to charity?

cheers
Russell

P.S. still loading up or not as the case seems to be :mad:

TheTramp
28th-February-2005, 06:49 PM
1) Is it just me, am I doing something wrong, or are there others who cannot view this website?
2) Anyone know how much of my £8 went to charity?
1) I logged on fine. A couple of photo's or graphics missing, and it looks very jumbled and yellow(!), but apart from that, it's no problem
2) No. Though, it does say on the website, "ALL PROCEEDS GO TO THE MENCAP CHARITY". I'm guessing that this is wrong, and it should probably say "ALL NET PROFITS AFTER EXPENSES". It should also probably not say it in capitals :devil: :flower:

Russell Saxby
28th-February-2005, 07:05 PM
Aha - just managed to log on. Had been using the link on UK-Jive to no avail also no luck with Wanadoo.. thank goodness for MSN :nice:

stompin' phil
5th-March-2005, 01:14 PM
Hi Russell

I am the organiser of Stompin’ in Brighton with Viktor every Friday I have been doing various charity events over the last 4 years all for the mencap charity. There are various forum links which plot the things I have done.

I am sorry you are having problems with the website .I have recently changed servers and the person who voluntary does the charity website is having problems with the picture upload etc so there may still be teething problems as I am not a techie and I only communicate with now and then hopefully this will be solved soon.

Stompin’ Fridays in Brighton with Viktor is run every Friday. In answer to your query all profits after costs go to the charity. The only costs incurred are The Hall, Security! (We have to have 2) dj, teacher & door person and about £5 for sweets, refreshments photocopying etc. I or Alison my partner who helps me now does not take any expenses.
The costs for this night are very high and we need quite a few people to break even on paper. Other organisers have either looked at this venue and decided not to do it or have pulled out after a short time because the costs against declining numbers have been too much.

If you were using this night as a business plan you would not expect to get anything back in the first year After our first 6 months Viktor, John Miller and our selves are hopefully putting together a night which is different from others around either through Viktor’s teaching or Johns style of music. With an average of 100+ dancers each week now compered to earlier smaller numbers but still the same costs we are turning the corner and hopefully it’s people like yourselves who travel a distance for something different and spread the word that will make this worthwhile(50% of our crowd travel 30+ miles). Basically a little bit of something is better than nothing.

Best wishes

Keep on Stompin’


Phil Duckettt

under par
6th-March-2005, 05:39 AM
After our first 6 months Viktor, John Miller and our selves are hopefully putting together a night which is different from others around either through Viktor’s teaching or Johns style of music.

Viktors lessons and style worth every penny.

John's sets are mostly very good, occasionally his set has disappointed ME!
My opinion and his music aren't always on the same level(nor should it be!)
Other dancers seem to enjoy it whatever my opinion.

Variety the spice of life and all that.



With an average of 100+ dancers each week now compered to earlier smaller numbers but still the same costs we are turning the corner and hopefully it’s people like yourselves who travel a distance for something different and spread the word that will make this worthwhile(50% of our crowd travel 30+ miles).

Best wishes

Phil Duckettt

gotta agree with Phil I cannot remember a poor night for dancing at Viktors Friday night class yet, always a good size crowd of mixed ability.

Russell Saxby
7th-March-2005, 06:02 PM
Phil - Thanks for taking the time to respond to my post, will hopefully be down again in the not too distant future

Commis Chef
8th-March-2005, 09:20 PM
As a regular to this venue I would also like to say that it is one of the best nights in the area. Victor's lessons and John's music are both draws for me and my partner. Brighton is straight down the motorway so check it out.
Sometimes guest DJs don't meet the high standard John sets but everyone needs a rest now and again.
To my mind it is worth the money and I hope that Phil will start to be able to contribute to his charity more as time goes on.

In comparason with some of the money grabbing antics seen from some of the franchisees it is to be heralded that someone is doing it for the benefit of others.

It seems to be trend along the southcoast. Sarah also holds dances to raise money for an african orphanage.

Andy McGregor
9th-March-2005, 02:20 AM
Sometimes guest DJs don't meet the high standard John sets but everyone needs a rest now and again.As one of the "guest DJs" I take exception to this. As a local organiser I pretty much know what the local dancers want. And I take requests too - although I will not play what ballroom dancers ask for - it is a modern jive night, if you want to Cha Cha all night go to a T-dance in Worthing Pavillion :angry:


Sarah also holds dances to raise money for an african orphanage.I do that too. So far this year I've raised over £350 for the Tsunami and stepped in a the last moment to hold a dance in aid of the African Orphanage after Peter Philips abandoned the idea in favor of a 50th birtday dance in aid of his own pocket :angry:

Chef
9th-March-2005, 11:53 AM
As one of the "guest DJs" I take exception to this. As a local organiser I pretty much know what the local dancers want. And I take requests too - although I will not play what ballroom dancers ask for - it is a modern jive night, if you want to Cha Cha all night go to a T-dance in Worthing Pavillion :angry:

Well if you take exception to this comment then tough. It was a personal opinion expressed by my partner. I take exception to your "local DJ knows best" attitude - but I will just have to live with it. You may know your local dancers but the dancers that are drawn to the exceptional teaching of Viktor at Hove on a Friday night are anything but "local" unless your definition of "local" to Brighton includes, Maidstone, Woking and Portsmouth to name a few. These dancers are drawn these large distances by an exceptional teacher because they are capable dancers and are looking for something beyond "easy moves" or "easy music". They do not fit into the model of standard "local" and therefore require different treatment. It is not yours or any other guest DJs "fault" if they do not know "their local" dancers as well as the resident DJ. Everbody at Hove on a Friday night appreciate hugely that the people running the event are doing so for charity. A guest DJ at any event is there for a number of reasons like, giving the resident DJ a break or giving the punters an exposure to something new. Some of this new stuff will be liked and some won't and as experienced dancers we know this.

It comes down to - would you play the same set of music to the experienced dancers at say "Hipsters", as you would to your local and largely inexperienced dancers at your thursday night class at Shoreham?

There is no need for Ballroom dancers to go to Worthing pavillion as a standard "local" MJ night has more than enough Cha cha, samba, foxtrot and quickstep music to satisfy them anyway. The only music tha MJ dancers don't get thrust upon them often is waltz and paso doble. One guest DJ once played a 20 minute set of Regge music :sick:



I do that too. So far this year I've raised over £350 for the Tsunami and stepped in a the last moment to hold a dance in aid of the African Orphanage after Peter Philips abandoned the idea in favor of a 50th birtday dance in aid of his own pocket :angry:

While charity fundraising efforts are always to be applauded I do not feel that you, I or anyone else has the right to try to shame anyone into contibuting to charity. Peter Phillips is a commercial operator and has a RIGHT to run a commercial dance to aid his own pocket. If and when he CHOOSES to run a charity event that is his decsion and his decsion alone. Nobody should try to bully or shame another person into contributing to charity. I therefore feel that your "angry" smiley at the end of your above quote to be uncalled for.

Just because I like you a lot Andy doesn't mean that I always have to agree with you.

Andy McGregor
9th-March-2005, 01:22 PM
Well if you take exception to this comment then tough. It was a personal opinion expressed by my partner. I take exception to your "local DJ knows best" attitude - but I will just have to live with it. You may know your local dancers but the dancers that are drawn to the exceptional teaching of Viktor at Hove on a Friday night are anything but "local" unless your definition of "local" to Brighton includes, Maidstone, Woking and Portsmouth to name a few. These dancers are drawn these large distances by an exceptional teacher because they are capable dancers and are looking for something beyond "easy moves" or "easy music". Viktor's class in Hove has a beginners lesson and attracts many beginners. A high proportion of them sent along from my own classes, on my recommendation. This means that there are many beginners in the room too with the far travelled experts - and a DJ needs to cater for everyone in the room. Those beginners will have sat out for the whole intermediate lesson and would like to dance. To play something like 'Ice Cream Man' straight after the lesson would be to play something inappropriate to their needs. So after the lesson I play them pop with a nice regular beat. The experts can still dance to it, but many of them choose to take a break and get a drink after the lesson, whatever you play. And IMHO, part of being an expert dancer is to find some interesting musicality in Kylie or other mainstream pop tracks.

So, as I said earlier, the last time I played on a Friday at Hove I catered for the beginners in the room 'til about 10.30, then for the last 90 mins I played the stuff I like to dance to, and I know that Chef likes. One of the dancers that had travelled from Portsmouth actually spoke to me at the end of the night and told me that he thought my set was "fab - from 10.30 onwards"! How did he know that was my plan?

It comes down to - would you play the same set of music to the experienced dancers at say "Hipsters", as you would to your local and largely inexperienced dancers at your thursday night class at Shoreham?I know what to play for the crowd at Hipsters - exactly what I like dancing to :flower: But as I've said earlier, the Hove crowd is a mix of Hipsters type dancers and beginners from the local classes. A much more difficult crowd to play for. And in that situation I must say that we do our best but can never please everyone :tears:

There is no need for Ballroom dancers to go to Worthing pavillion as a standard "local" MJ night has more than enough Cha cha, samba, foxtrot and quickstep music to satisfy them anyway. The only music tha MJ dancers don't get thrust upon them often is waltz and paso doble. One guest DJ once played a 20 minute set of Regge music Chef is completely right. However, I'm referring to a couple who don't seem to do any MJ as far as I can see - and then they complain when they can't do their latin dances because you're playing pop. It's them in particular I believe have gone to the wrong place. And because they are doing the Cha Cha and not using very good floorcraft they keep banging into people too :mad:

While charity fundraising efforts are always to be applauded I do not feel that you, I or anyone else has the right to try to shame anyone into contibuting to charity. Peter Phillips is a commercial operator and has a RIGHT to run a commercial dance to aid his own pocket. If and when he CHOOSES to run a charity event that is his decision and his decision alone. Nobody should try to bully or shame another person into contributing to charity. I therefore feel that your "angry" smiley at the end of your above quote to be uncalled for.I've got nothing against commercial operators - look to the left and you will see that I am one! The angry smiley was because of the particular circumstances on that particular Saturday. Most readers of the Forum are aware of them so I'm not going to repeat the sorry tale in full. In summary, Peter Philips had booked to hold a charity dance on a Saturday night. Jeff Jasper invited local dancers to a private party in the same venue on the same night so Peter cancelled the charity event - and that is what made me angry enough to put on a replacement charity dance. And John Brett and Nigel Anderson gave their time for free to support it, as did many other people :worthy:

Will
9th-March-2005, 02:08 PM
"Across the UK, the total number of the Ceroc / MJ businesses is 26.....

in Brightnam it is 19......... n-n-n-n-nineteen."

Andy McGregor
9th-March-2005, 02:54 PM
"Across the UK, the total number of the Ceroc / MJ businesses is 26.....

in Brightnam it is 19......... n-n-n-n-nineteen." :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Brilliant.

Of course these 19 businesses create a hot-house environment where evolution produces some weird quirks of nature :devil: