In the embryonic days of Bees United, before it became the owners of Brentford Football Club, there was the need to raise funds for Bees United.
A small team of people met from time to time to consider a range of ideas that would generate funds. On that team was Natasha Judge who along with the late Allison Franklin became the first female board members of Bees United. One of the ideas discussed was Easyfundraising. As at 14th November this year, 271 people had signed up to Easyfundraising when doing their shopping online. This has generated £4,368 since the scheme began. This figure increases each month and we regularly receive cheques from Easyfundraising. This money raising idea was originally suggested by Natasha.
If you had an idea it had to first go the Bees United Board. You couldn’t just embark on an idea. It had to be seen to generate maximum revenue for as little cost. I also believe it had to protect the integrity of both Bees United and Brentford Football Club.
As part of a secret Santa present, I received a tin, the size of a baked bean tin with a slot on the top to put my spare change in. I suggested to the Bees United board that this could raise funds for a small outlay on the tins. The idea was accepted. I then set about finding a supplier of the tins. I asked Paul Stedman if he would produce a wrap around label for the tin. The label was headed ’Spare Change for Brentford’ and included a space for the user of the tin to put their name and contact details. When the tins arrived I pasted the labels on the tins.
I launched the scheme by standing in the forecourt of Griffin Park handing out tins to whoever was prepared to take one. There was also an article in a match day programme. The instructions were simple, fill it up with 1p or 2p coins and return it to the club shop who would keep the tin and hand out another tin. After a home game I would visit the club shop and take home any tins. I estimated that a tin of 1p or 2p coins would generate about £9.
I had obviously underestimated supporters’ enthusiasm for the scheme. I parked in Lionel Road North on match days and on one occasion carried twenty-seven tins full of spare change that stretched both my arms and the carrier bags holding them back to my car. The number of tins I collected did vary from each visit to the club shop. Once the supply of empty tins ran out, I just ordered more from the suppliers.
Once home I spent the evening opening the tins and counting and recording the contents. I was able to let supporters how much their tins contained. To my surprise the tins not only contained 1p and 2p coins but every denomination of the realm, including £5, £10, £20 notes. Some supporters have obviously a different idea to me as what constitutes ‘Small Change’.
Counting the money and recording it took time, so my son bought me a small machine to aid with the sorting and counting. If we ever get a museum at Brentford I will donate the machine! On a Monday I would take the money to Barclays Bank and pay it into the Bees United bank account. The amounts in the tin did vary from as little as £1 to £132 and included some euros.
The scheme ended when the company supplying the tins stopped making them. By the end of the scheme it had generated just short of £10,000. Every penny counted by hand. I considered it a success and in a small way contributed to the funds of Bees United as did the ‘Buy a Brick for Brentford’, but that’s another story.