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04

Nov 2022

Last Updated: 04/11/2022
Community
Community

Final appeal for donations towards £10k cost of Harrogate bonfire

by Newsroom

| 04 Nov, 2022
Comment

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Harrogate Round Table has set a £10,000 fundraising target, but so far less than a tenth of that has been pledged.

bonfire-crowds

The organisers of the Stray Bonfire are appealing for help to meet the costs of putting on one of Harrogate’s best-loved events tomorrow.


Harrogate Round Table has set a £10,000 fundraising target, but so far less than a tenth of that has been pledged.


The Stray Bonfire event costs about £13,500 to stage, with £5,000 spent on fireworks alone. Organiser Andy Rickard said:



“We run the event as volunteers, but there are costs we can’t avoid, such as parking, medical care and closing roads. It’s free to attend and we’d like to keep it that way, so if you can afford to help out with the costs it would be very much appreciated.”


The event, which starts at 5pm tomorrow (Saturday, November 5) and finishes with a fireworks finale at 7.15pm, will also feature music from three bands, hot food stalls, a licensed bar and – new this year – on-site toilets. The Met Office is forecasting an evening of dry weather.


The organisers had planned to ditch the traditional bonfire this year in favour of other entertainment, but changed their minds last week and reinstated it.



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As well as individual donations, the team of volunteers is interested in hearing from any businesses or other organisations which might sponsor the event.

Mr Rickard said:



“If there are any companies that are interested, for £250 you can become a community sponsor and we’ll put your logo up on the big screen in front of about 10,000 people – right before Christmas.
“You can also donate at our GoFundMe page, or give £5 by texting BONFIRE to 70460.
“On the night we’ll even have card-readers, so you can donate that way, but we’ll only have four of them, so we’d urge people to bring cash, as we’ll have 60 bucket-shakers collecting donations.”


Any surplus funds will be donated to Harrogate Homeless Project, which marks 30 years in the town this year.


Mr Rickard added:



“We really wanted to celebrate Harrogate Homeless Project’s 30th anniversary, but also, the cost-of-living crisis is going to affect everybody, but the homeless are potentially the most vulnerable, so we wanted to help as much as we can as winter approaches.”