On Friday 23rd November 2018, St. Barnabas Church Hall, Swanland was the location of the fourth annual CRY Coffee Morning & Cake Bake fundraising event to take place in memory of Jamie Loncaster, who died suddenly and unexpectedly in March 2015 from an undetected heart condition.
Once again there had been many weeks (if not months) of planning and promoting of the event, which is certainly gaining momentum year on year. Early “save the date” notices followed by publicity on social media as well as local village community publications all helped spread the word. As always though, word of mouth seemed a very dependable way of spreading the news!
As well as cakes baked by family, friends and those attending, there were several show-stopping cakes donated to the cake raffle. This year, local cake maker Claire Milner recreated the new CRY Great Cake Bake logos in two amazing cakes. She also created a cake that resembled a Jammie Dodger biscuit and aptly named it the “Jamie Dodger” in memory of Jamie. The cake raffle was once again a very busy stall and a total of 15 cakes / boxes of cupcakes were won as prizes by various people who attended. The family coordinated the delivery/collection of the cakes after the event had finished and all the clearing up was completed!
The event ran from 9am to Noon and saw well over 200 people pass through again. Its’s always a well-attended event and gives the community an excuse for a sit down and catch up with each other whilst watching a looped video of images / videos of Jamie.
The event always helps to raise awareness of CRY and many leaflets were taken home by those attending. The family spent time chatting to as many people as possible and explaining what CRY do and how to book for the forthcoming heart screening event in April 2019.
On the day over £1,600 of cash was collected, with two cheques also handed over totalling £200. Other donations received after the event increased the final total raised to well over £1,900…!
Jamie’s family would like to thank everyone who baked, attended and donated and special thanks go to St. Barnabas Church and all their volunteers for (free) use of their facilities again – special thanks to Judith Bishop for her three hour coffee and tea making stint totalling over 250 cups…!
All money raised goes to Jamie’s Memorial Fund at Cardiac Risk in the Young and is being used by the family to offer FREE Heart Screenings for local young people aged 14-35. The coffee morning will be held again next year and is likely to be on the last Friday in November.
