What is it? A walk, stagger, stroll or if you are very enthusiastic, a run round the streets of Huddersfield on a route measuring about one mile, wearing a Santa suit if an adult or reindeer antlers and flashing nose if a child 10 years old and younger.
We held our first Santa Dash on 11th December 2011 and were lucky enough to secure the use of a vacant shop right in the town centre, which gave us a dry and comfortable administration area, well away from the extremely wet weather.
With a mass start following a warm-up session led by the Huddersfield Giants and with music from a local youth band and from Holmfirth & Meltham‟s Club sleigh, we felt for a first event, it was very successful, with £2,500 raised by 19 charities from the town.
Warming up, ready for the off
We were well supported at the „free raffle‟ by 1st Vice District Governor‟s Ken Wild and his Lady Sylvia, who made contact with 2 potential new Lions, both quite young (certainly by Huddersfield standards!).
From the raffle, we secured lots of very useful email contacts, and from local donors were able to cover our administration charges, including a donation of £500 from the local VW dealership, who lent us a car to have a “guess the number of balloons inside the car” competition.
We learned a lot at this first try and plan to make it an annual project helping local charities to use the Lions organisational ability to raise funds for their own cause. In this way we continue to “Serve” in our local community.
If any clubs would like practical information about the event, please contact us on:
ejarla@tiscali.co.uk
Lion Bob Armitage
Huddersfield Lions Club
