Is it too late for a New Years resolution to try and remember to internet shop through our website links?

We will get a donation from the company you buy from while you pay the same for your purchases!

See the Amazon and Spend and Raise links at the top right of the home page.

Is it too late for a New Year resolution?

Back in July I signed up to do the Major Series to raise some money for Birmingham Conservation Trust and tomorrow is d-day!

The run is no ordinary 5k run it involves mud, water, hills and a number of obstacles! I’ve just been given a taster of one of the obstacles for tomorrows run (with the weather forecast for tomorrow I can’t wait to be in freezing water!!…).

I think most of my time tomorrow is going to be spent trying to get out of the mud pool….

There is still time to sponsor me at http://www.justgiving.com/Emma-Neil1

or sponsor me by texting BCTE86 £__ to 70070

Finally, a BIG thank you to all of those who have sponsored me so far!!

I’ve raised £259 so far but would love to raise some more money for Birmingham Conservation Trust!!

Tomorrows the Big Day!

Emma Neil, one of our wonderful volunteers, will be taking the plunge – literally – into cold October muddy water as part of her Major Series challenge to raise money for Birmingham Conservation Trust. It is all happening on 27 October, so still time to dig deep and find a few quid to help Emma reach her target and support the work of the Trust.

Getting ready to trudge in the sludge for Buildings at Risk

For the first time, Birmingham Conservation Trust is offering special twilight tours of the Grade II* listed Newman Brothers Coffin Fitting Works in the Jewellery Quarter between 26 October and 3 November to raise money for its restoration project which starts early 2013.

Visitors will experience a candlelit tour of the semi-derelict 1894 Victorian factory which made coffin fittings and find out about the manufacturing processes used to produce the decorations for the coffins of Princess Diana and Winston Churchill. Our guides will tell stories about the workers and this family-run business; life in a Victorian factory and an unfortunate incident of cyanide poisoning.

Anyone who has visited Newman Brothers will probably tell you it is always atmospheric whatever time of day, but it transforms into something really magical and eerie in the evening, especially when the courtyard is edged with candles and bats fly overhead; creating the perfect setting for the Halloween season. Our ‘behind the scenes’ tour of the factory focuses on the 100 year history of the Newman Brothers coffin fittings business rather than ghosts and ghouls. However, there may be a few surprises!

The hour-long tour, followed by a warming mug of hot chocolate in the candlelit courtyard are priced at £10 each (plus 80p booking charge) and all profits go towards the Coffin Fitting Works restoration project. Tickets are available from www.eventelephant.com/birminghamconservationtrust

The marvellous macabre; Coffin Fitting Works by candlelight

Back in June the Big Give introduced a new unique online fundraising initiative ‘the Big Give Quiz’. From the success of the last quiz the Big Give Quiz is back and is taking place Wednesday 3rd October at 7.30pm. It’s a great way to help support Birmingham Conservation Trust in the comfort of your own home with your friends and family! All you have to do is:

1)      Form a team

2)      Register online by midday on Wednesday 3^rd October

3)      Swat up on your general knowledge!

Each team will pay a £10 registration fee to the Big Give and £10 for each team member. Each team member will then receive a £10 donation voucher to donate to Birmingham Conservation Trust on the Big Give  – meaning that 100% of each member’s contribution will go directly to Birmingham Conservation Trust.

The successful team will be awarded £250 cash and a £250 donation voucher for their charity – a chance to raise even more funds for Birmingham Conservation Trust. 

I formed a team for the last quiz and a top tip if your taking part in next months quiz is make sure your spellings are spot on otherwise it’s a wrong answer. It’s not like a pub quiz where they let you off! The general knowledge rounds were tricky but they were broke up with a series of picture rounds. The next quiz is going to be more interactive with a range of rounds including ‘Spot the Difference’, ‘Which Came First?’, other picture rounds and, of course, some traditional general knowledge questions are back. The Big Give have decided to have fewer traditional questions this time round to reduce the opportunity for teams to surreptitiously include the internet as a team member….

Register for the Big Give Quiz here!

The Big Give Quiz is back!

Emma Neil has been one of our regular bloggers over the last few years. In July she offered to do the gruelling Midlands Major Series to raise money for BCT – of course, we ‘jumped’ at the chance, but we are leaving the crawling through mud and wading waist high in freezing October water to Emma!

Emma is 26 and from Wolverhampton. She is employed by Keele University as a Clinical Studies Officer working with the Primary Care Research Network.  I interviewed Emma to find out why she chooses to volunteer for BCT and what physical challenge she is putting herself through to support our work!

Why do you volunteer for BCT ? 

“I’ve always had an interest in heritage and the historic environment in particular industrial and hospital heritage. Whilst studying Historic Environment Conservation at the Ironbridge Institute I wanted to get involved with groups supporting historic buildings at risk local to me. I came across Birmingham Conservation Trust from the register of Buildings Preservation Trusts and was really impressed by the portfolio of projects the Trust were involved in along with some of the results of the finished projects. It was great to read about the historic buildings that had been rescued by the Trust and now have a new lease of life, such as the Back to Backs”.

How did you get involved with BCT and what do you do?

“I contacted BCT expressing an interest in volunteering and was contacted soon after about whether I would be interested in becoming a ‘blogger’. It wasn’t something I had done before but thought I would give it ago and signed up. What was really good was the support I received. I was new to ‘blogging’ and was invited to attend a Social Media Surgery (run by one of the Trusts trustees Nick Booth), it was a relaxed and informal session which provided me with the skills to start blogging.

For over two years, I have been posting about a range of things all connected to Birmingham’s past and heritage, from blogging about a particular building, website, promoting an up and coming event, or about books connected to Birmingham which will hopefully encourage the readers to buy through Amazon and raise some money for the Trust!”

Why have you decided to put yourself through the Midlands Major Series and what does it involve? 

” wanted to help raise some money for the Trust but at the same time set myself a challenge doing something new. I signed up to the Major Series as it was an event not solely focused on running but has a number of obstacles to tackle along the way. The event is organised by the British Military Fitness and involves mud, hills, water and a number of obstacles such as the ‘Tunnel of Doom’!! On the 27th October I’ll be running, crawling and sliding through this assault course whilst getting covered head to toe in mud from the ditches/trenches, steep hills and boggy lakes.

Take a look at the You Tube clip which will give you an idea of what I’ve signed up to!!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qN2M6qQZK4&feature=youtu.be

What are you looking forward to and not looking forward to about it? 

“I will be most looking forward to finishing the course in one piece with my trainers intact! Due to the time of year I’m least looking forward to the coldness of being in a boggy lake waist deep…”

How are you going to prepare for it?

“I finally started training last week, I have been jogging around RAF Cosford every other day. I do hope the more I run the easier it will get as at the moment my legs are constantly aching! I plan to keep jogging a couple of times a week at least (rain or shine) and plan some alternative routes around Birmingham. I will keep you all posted through blogs on how I’m getting on”.

Please sponsor Emma through www.justgiving.com/Emma-Neil1

Go Emma!

Putting the fun into fundraising – Mud, water and the tunnel of doom!

It was six weeks to the day that I set myself a challenge! (See my blog post dated 5th June)

I wanted to find an easy way to remember using the links on the BCT website to shop at Amazon, and also hundreds of other on-line retailers (through Spend and Raise), so BCT could earn a commission (referrers fee) on whatever I bought.

To be honest, the post-it note lost its stick pretty early on, but I am pleased to say that by then the challenge was firmly set in my mind.

At first I admit to feeling compelled to buy EVERYTHING I could on-line just to prove a point! But, I curbed my enthusiasm when I realised the delivery charge on the box of Twinings Tea I was looking at cost more than the tea itself!

Besides, the challenge wasn’t about buying more; it was about re-programming the way I shop on-line – which I think I have achieved. Here are the results….

I  bought:

• 2 kids presents from The Entertainer – spent £15 (3% commission) money raised for BCT = £0.45p
• rechargeable batteries through Amazon – spent £12.25 (5% commission) money rasied for BCT = £0.61p
• 2 canisters of helium balloon for an event from Partybox - spent £78.14 (7.5% commission) money raised = £5.86
• Booked a hotel room in Northampton through Expedia – spent £40.50 (6% commission) money raised for BCT = £2.43

I raised £9.35 for BCT in six weeks, simply by shopping via the BCT website. It didn’t cost me a penny more. Who would have thought fundrasing would be that easy!

Just think, if everyone of you reading this had a go – how much could be raised in the next six weeks?

Now there’s a challenge!!!

My six-week challenge to raise money for the Birmingham Conservation Trust: The results…

Q. How can you spend a fun-filled night with friends, raise funds for Birmingham Conservation Trust, and be in with a chance of winning fantastic prizes?

A. Take part in the Big Give Quiz!

The Big Give Quiz is taking place at 7.30pm on Wednesday 20^th June (in the comfort of your own home!).

You can help raise funds for Birmingham Conservation Trust by entering a team in the Big Give Quiz, teams will gather in a friend’s house to complete the quiz online.

The Big Give regularly creates opportunities to help donations make a much greater impact, such as the annual Christmas Challenge where you can have your donation matched. The Big Give Quiz is the latest new initiative; the donations from taking part will help towards supporting Birmingham Conservation Trusts work to preserve and enhance Birmingham’s threatened architectural heritage.

What it involves:

Firstly, you will need to register by visiting:

http://content.thebiggive.org.uk/big-give-quiz/

(Registration will close midday on Wednesday 20^th June).

Each team will pay a £10 registration fee to the Big Give and £10 for each team member. Each team member will then receive a £10 donation voucher to donate to Birmingham Conservation Trust on the Big Give  – meaning that 100% of each member’s contribution will go directly to Birmingham Conservation Trust.

When you register your team you will be asked to enter the number of team members (anywhere between 2 and 10) – but if you’re unsure you can always add players at a later date.

The prizes:

The successful team will be awarded £250 cash and a £500 donation voucher for their charity – a chance to raise even more funds for Birmingham Conservation Trust. 

The quiz:

The Quiz will last for about an hour, and each question will be timed. There will be a few rather tricky questions…and the Big Give warn don’t expect to be able to rely on Google for most of them!

I hope you will be able to take part in the Quiz on behalf of Birmingham Conservation Trust and spread the word to your families and friends about taking part, donations will really help Birmingham Conservation Trust.

Support Birmingham Conservation Trust by taking part in the Big Give Quiz

I shop on-line all the time – I admit I am a huge fan of Amazon. But I have only just found out that I can raise money for BCT and help save our wonderful and threatened Birmingham built heritage by buying through the BCT website. It won’t cost me any more money, but BCT get a small percentage of what I spend – like 5% of every Amazon purchase (a referrer’s commission). And, in the words of a well-known supermarket, ‘Every little helps!’

If you didn’t know this either, on the top right-hand corner of the screen are links to Amazon and Spend and Raise – you simply go through these instead of directly to the stores and then shop in the normal way. I was amazed at just how many stores are signed up with Spend and Raise:

Boots

theTrainline.com

Debenhams

Weightwatchers

Toys R Us

pretty much every type of travel or ticket company – even your on-line grocery shop at Sainsburys will raise 50p each time for BCT.

The problem is, now I know how potentially good it is for BCT, I am probably going to feel a bit guilty every time I forget to go this route!

This got me thinking… I could try a post-it note on my computer to help me remember, or should I try and re-programme my way of on-line shopping once and for all? I feel a personal challenge coming on!!

Right, for the next 6 weeks I am going to see how much money I can raise for BCT, by simply adding a few extra clicks onto my shopping trips when I need to buy something on-line. It might not end up a lot of money, but if I’m doing it anyway…

Anyone want to join me in this challenge? Anyone got any top tips?  

Six week Birmingham Conservation Trust fundraising challenge set. I‘m adding a few clicks onto my on-line shopping trips!

We have a fantastic opportunity to double any donations for the Coffin Works and we need your help!  The Pilgrim Trust will match pound for pound any donations given via The Big Give website between 5th and 22nd December up to a total of £5,000.  A contribution of £20 will generate £40 for the project and that can be further increased by a further 25% if you are UK taxpayer by clicking on the Gift Aid box.

Double your donation for the Coffin Works

Dear BCT Supporter,

We have just had some great news about funding for the Coffin Fittings Works Project but we need you to help us to get the money!

The Pilgrim Trust will double your money if you donate via the Big Give between NOW and Thursday 22nd December 5pm up to a total of £5,000
(and if you are a UK taxpayer you can increase your donation by a further 25% if you tick the gift aid box) – so we can raise in excess of £10,000 with your help.

A donation of just £10 magically transforms into £22.50 (with Gift Aid) so it’s a fantastic way to make your gift go further.

Your donations will go towards the restoration costs of the Coffin Fitting Works and will help us to reach our funding targets and get on site.

Click this link to donate now -

http://new.thebiggive.org.uk/projects/view/14980

Double thanks from us for your donation!

Best wishes
Lucie

Coffin Works Big Give