We've been applying for grants to raise some of the money we need to rewild William Patten's playgrounds. However we'll also need the school and local community's help to raise all the money we need.
To get started, one of the Project Rewild's mini squads, Team Fundraise led by parent Alastair McLellan, is planning to run an online 'silent' auction for the school to hopefully raise between £5,000-10,000 of the overall target.
With the school and PTFA's permission, we're using online provider Jumblebee to help us run our online silent auction, as this means we can quickly and easily set the auction up using existing technology. We intend to run the online auction over two to three weeks in March, so we have money to spend come Spring to kick off initial clearing and planting.
Currently we are building up items and experiences ready to auction, which you can see at https://www.jumblebee.co.uk/williampattenprimary - an image of the site is embedded below. Massive thanks to those parents and carers who have already donated, such as:
parent Lucy, who has donated tickets to the amazing Spirited Away theatrical show happening in London this year,
parent Ben who has donated free London Zoo and Whipsnade Zoo tickets from his employer, ZSL, and
local businesswoman Helen who has donated a knife sharpening and engraving experience at local Stokey shop, Kitchen Provisions.
When the auction opens, interested bidders can bid online. They can bid once or log a maximum amount they're prepared to spend for an item or experience, in which case the Jumblebee system will automatically bid on their behalf in small increments up to that amount.
If you've got an experience or item you'd be happy to donate to the auction please email nina@hackneyoutdoors.co.uk. We'll also soon be putting flyers such the ones below around Stoke Newington to ask for more.
Obviously you may be able to bag some deals if you eventually bid for items, but we're hoping that bidders approach this in that they're getting an experience while also giving to a great cause.