This week companies all over the country have been hosting events in support of Macmillan Cancer Support’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning. The Coffee Morning has been running each year since 1990 and in 2016 alone managed to raise £29.5 million!
We at Halecroft took that mind-blowing figure as a challenge and decided to up the ante by teaming up with our good friends at Made In Cheshire to host the most ‘Hale’ version of the event that we could.
We’ve always prided ourselves on being a local business and thought that this was the perfect way to raise money for a good cause and bring some attention to our beloved Hale village. We did this by hosting an afternoon tea at the ever-popular local restaurant Victor’s and inviting some of the many fantastic local businesses to take part.
The event started at 1 pm where our MD Tricia and Made In Cheshire’s Jacinta welcomed guests and showed them to their tables, where there was a chance to network before the fun began. Twenty minutes later the team at Victor’s brought out the afternoon tea. The food was wonderful, with all manner of sandwiches, scones, cheesecakes and even macaroons served alongside prosecco and orange juice.
After the food had been eaten, the fashionistas from Cover Appeal ran a fashion show featuring some of their gorgeous ladies clothing and accessories. Our very own Kim Dodd even stepped in at the last minute to fill in as a model for them. She did so well that Tricia was worried that a career change may be on the horizon for a second.
Once we had finished the fashion show it was time to make use of the generosity of the local businesses and start the raffle. We had some amazing prizes on offer including tasting tickets from Portland Wine and The Fizz Festival, fashion gift cards from the stylish Vanilla and The Edit, delicious food from Soul Vegan and Gusto Didsbury, a vegan candle from Brahma Origins, personal training sessions from Missy Thorley and photography from Amy Louise.
Once all the prizes had been claimed it was time to move on to a fantastic floristry demonstration with the award-winning Alison from The Flower Studio. Not only did she show us how to make an impressive horizontal arrangement that really stood out from a standard vase, but she also showed everyone a few tips on how to properly arrange a vase and care for the flowers in there. She also generously donated the two arrangements to the raffle, to the delight of the winners watching them being made.
The final part of the afternoon was arranged by Victor’s themselves. Their skilled bar staff demonstrated how to make a selection of their most popular cocktails at home, although it doesn’t seem likely that the average attendee happens to keep a bottle of candy floss flavoured syrup in their alcohol cabinet!
All in all, we had a great day and managed to raise £420 for Macmillan, all while supporting our local community and connecting with some lovely people, old and new. That’s definitely a success in our book!