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Yearly Archives: 2016

New impressive record set at Teads London office

Media Madness sees our Community Engagement team set a new record at Teads London office.

Teads, a global leader in the video advertising space warmly welcomed our team on Tuesday 6th December. This marked the second drive of Media Madness with the previous record of 97 bone marrow and stem cell donor registrations currently held by Bauer Media.

On the day itself the team registered a willing 60 new donors which was an incredible achievement considering there are only 70 employees in their London office and 65 were in on this particular day.

Despite Bauer Media still topping the Media Madness leaderboard in terms of numbers, Teads set a new record for the per person ratio of those people onsite who came forward to sign up at an impressive 92%. The team at Race Against Blood Cancer couldn’t be any happier with the way the day went, with Teads truly raising the bar in terms of active participation.

A massive thank you to Elle Panes and Jonathan Nash who organised the donor drive for us on the day and did a great job rallying the troops.

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Bauer Media swabbing against blood cancer

Bauer Media hosts our Community Engagement Team for our 20th donor drive of 2016

November 8th marked our 20th donor drive of a busy 2016 where we were warmly welcomed by an enthusiastic team at Bauer Media UK.

As one of Europe’s largest privately-owned media groups, Bauer Media is an entertainment network of iconic, multi-platform brands.

This particular donor drive was a long time coming and is somewhat fitting that in the end the drive kicked off Media Donor Drive Madness! The highly competitive 4th quarter is where we have several media companies lined up to do end of year donor drives, with each company we visit trying to top the leader board with the most donors signed up on the day.

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A massive thank you goes to Ryan Hawking-Skeggs. Not only was Ryan instrumental in organising the donor drive he took Alex our lead on the day from desk to desk to sign people up to the register.

The team would also like to extend its appreciation to everyone who supported on the day and to an extremely willing audience. As a result of such goodwill Media Donor Drive Madness had a hugely impressive start with 97 new donors registering on the day.


Alex Morisson & Audience

Helping save lives at Latimer Live 2016

The amazing team at Latimer invited Race Against Blood Cancer to their event “Latimer Live” on 27th October held at the ever popular Oval Space in Bethnal Green, London.

Latimer live is an event bringing together the UK’s top emerging talent for a night of live performances and DJ sets. Previous acts have included grime stars Stormzy and Lethal Bizzle.

For those new UK music lovers who have never attended these events before, they come highly recommended. This year’s event had performances from Abracadabra, winner of Best Song at this year’s MOBO awards for Robbery remix with Krept & Konan, Mez, Kojey Radical, Knucks, Snoochie Shy, Chennessey and many more.

The night itself was filled with high energy, good vibes and a lot of dancing. The team signed a total of 32 new donors up which was also great considering the lead time we had in arranging the event. Throughout the night, we also met a number of people who have been affected by blood cancer and were interested to know more on how they could help beyond joining the registry.

This was a great night, full of talent and energy for Race Against Blood Cancer to be present at. We would like to say a massive thank you to Louise, Jack and Alfred at Latimer and to all the people who signed up on the night to help save a life.

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Celebrating a year’s milestones with our Annual Golf Tournament & Gala Dinner

Friday 23rd September marked the 2nd annual Race Against Blood Cancer Golf Tournament and Gala Dinner, which was again hosted at the Shropshire Golf Centre.

Celebrating the amazing milestones achieved over the last year, the day started off in the sun with 16 golf teams competing. The tournament even saw football stars Stephen Hunt, former Reading and Republic of Ireland midfielder and Peter Odemwingie, former West Bromwich and Nigeria forward, participate in the event. Once the final scores were counted, it was Lee Sandell and his team who was awarded the trophy despite a close score.

A team on the golf course for Race Against Blood Cancer Student talking about his summer supporting Race Against Blood Cancer

Three golf players assessing their game Two supporters at our 2nd Annual Gala Dinner

Girl smiling during Race Against Blood Cancer presentation Golf players at our Annual Charity Golf Tournament

 As sun started to set, the 160 Gala Dinner attendees were guided to the evening venue, beautifully decorated in white and red. Joining the celebrations were 6 nominated students from the National Citizen Service programme. After attending a workshop that the charity carried out, the students dedicated their summers to raising awareness for the charity and £450 in funds. As one of the highlight speakers of the night they left the stage to a huge round of applause.

Fundraising for the evening is still in progress with some prizes being auctioned on eBay. Items include a shirt worn by Joe Hart and signed by the whole England squad from the recent world cup qualifier against Slovakia, Sam Allardyce’s one and only match as England manager. Other prizes comprise of a framed pair of signed Joe Hart gloves and Phil Jones’ Community Shield shirt signed by the Manchester United squad including superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Race Against Blood Cancer’s 2016 Annual Golf Tournament and Gala dinner was a great success and we would like to give massive thank you to Matthew Lea Golf Academy for organising the Golf event, The Shropshire Golf Centre for hosting, our friends, family and supporters who joined us and finally, Skratch AV for providing their exemplary service and providing a world class multimedia solution.


Race Against Blood Cancer marks its 1st year in style

Saturday 6th August will go down in Race Against Blood Cancer history, as we marked our first year anniversary in style with a day and night to remember.

If someone had said we would have done over 40 donor drives and signed up over 2100 people onto the donor register a year prior, we wouldn’t have believed it.

One full year has passed since a group of young people came together and showed the amazing things that could happen when you unite cultures, passions, ideas and plain old positive work! A number of key partnerships with other charities, businesses and celebrities were formed in these twelve months and will make the next 12 months even more exciting.

To mark the occasion, the team entered 18 triathletes into the AJ Bell London triathlon, raising over £6400 in the process and, wanting to do things differently to most other charities, we put on a party headlined by UK Garage legends Norris Da Boss Windross & MC Creed.

Held at Vice’s newest venue, Kamio – Red Gallery the night was full of anticipation. Not without its challenges, with both Old Street and Shoreditch High street stations closed for the weekend and the Shoreditch area much quieter than normal, we were not deterred.

Upon entry we set up a ping pong table, adult Jenga, photo booth area and offered a free drink, courtesy of our sponsor – Pistonhead Lager, to get the crowd going.

The night kicked off with great live performances from Jacob Makes Music and the excellent Chase Emery Davies. Stepping onto the decks we then had Sam Smith, DJ Rogue, DJ Longers, Kruel Intentions and a headline set by Norris Da Boss Windross and MC Creed with a live PA from Rose Windross. The night finally ended with Mister L to wind things up at the end of the night.

The event was definitely a diverse and eclectic mix of personalities and cultures. We marked the year off with a fitting event that celebrated the charity and we look forward to another great year of success.

We would like to send a massive thank you to

Kamio/ Vice
Bounce
Pistonhead
Jacob Makes Music
Chase Emery Davies
Megan Impey
The Famous Company
Sam Smith
DJ Rogue
DJ Longers
Kruel Intentions
Norris Da Boss Windross
MC Creed
Rose Windross
Mister L
Ontrax TV

and a massive thank you to Tinkphotography for all of their hard work on the night.

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Swim, ride, run – The team smashed it all!

On weekend of 6th August, a team of 18 committed triathletes completed the AJ Bell London Triathlon for Race Against Blood Cancer to raise money for the charity and its ongoing efforts to help save lives.

Known to be the world’s largest triathlon attracting over 13,000 participants and 30,000 spectators, the AJ Bell Triathlon never disappoints. And 2016 was no exception.

With most of the team completing a triathlon for the first time, nerves were high as the London sun started to rise and heat started to soar. But team Race Against Blood Cancer stayed strong!

Offering many different formats and distances, team Race Against Blood Cancer saw various waves of fundraisers depart throughout the day. Despite the heat, everyone dug deep, remained hydrated and completed the respective events and disciplines in a great time, with a smile on their faces, and pride in their hearts.

Race Against Blood Cancer is immensely proud of the great team effort that went into this event. Despite the hard work, sweat and tears, the team managed to raise over £6,000 to help give every blood cancer patient an equal chance of finding a suitable match.

Thank you to all those taking part in the event as well as the spectators who went to cheer the team on. You were all amazing!

We look forward to being back next year. If you would like to get involved for the 2017 event, please get in touch with ben.westwood@raceagainstbloodcancer.com. Our 18 triathletes were exemplary, let’s aim for a team of 40 for 2017!

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Norris Da Boss Windross & MC Creed lead the party line up

The final line up for Race Against Blood Cancer’s 1st Anniversary party was confirmed on the weekend. 

With performances ranging from amazing house, UK Garage and Hip Hop DJs as well as live singers, the 6th August promises to be unforgettable, with Norris Da Boss Windross & MC Creed as the main headline at Kamio, Red Gallery, Shoreditch.

Tickets are selling out fast. If you haven’t already, do so now for just £10 https://billetto.co.uk/en/events/thefutureisnow

Buy your tickets and get read for a crazy night filled with positive energy and great people.

We look forward to seeing you there!

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A few climbs, dramas, and many laughs later, the 3 Peaks Challenge is complete

Ben Westwood, a dedicated fundraiser from Race Against Blood Cancer joined forces with Birmingham Children’s Hospital fundraisers to take on, and smash, the 3 Peaks Challenge in 24h.

On Saturday 16th July at 6AM, the team set out from Shropshire on the arduous challenge of climbing the highest mountains of Scotland, England and Wales in 24 hours, covering an estimated 44 km, with a total ascent of 9800 feet and not to mention the 1109 miles that were covered by the support crew in the mini bus.

Starting off at the bottom of Ben Nevis at 5PM, they had around 5 hours to complete the ascent before heading back down to the van and make their way to peak number two. The weather was not on their side. Winds blowing a gale, heavy rain pouring down and forecast throughout definitely was a challenge. Temperatures also dropped -7 C at the summit on this mid-July date. It seemed like anything but a nice summer’s afternoon for a stroll! Enduring horizontal rain coming at them from all angles and temperatures that seemed to drop with every footstep taken, Ben Nevis was by far their longest and most difficult challenge in the competition due to the conditions.

Despite the negatives, they did come home with a few notable moments which included helping pull up a fellow hiker from a fall half way down a steep bank as she held on for dear life before a few members of the team ran to the rescue. Or, on the way down witnessing one of the mountain rescue team’s quads going off track down a gully with the driver needing to jump off! But, despite the dramas, the team made it in just over 5 hours.

Ben Nevis done, they quickly pushed on through the night with a 6 hour drive to Scafell Pike where dry weather and slightly warmer temperatures awaited them. Scafell Pike was checked off and climbed in just over 3 hours. Besides the very sore legs, serious cramps creeping in and the painfully slow bacon butty van at the bottom that they had to pay a visit to, the trek definitely included less drama.

The team’s third and final peak was Mount Snowden in Wales and was probably the easiest of the three. Wales didn’t disappoint as the sun shun bright and the temperatures a delight. Ditching the hiking boots and donning the trainers, shorts and T-shirts, the team completed the peak in just under 3 hours before doubling it in at a canter over the finish line.

The 3 Peak Challenge in 24 hours was completed!

Massive thanks to the entire team and all the individuals that sponsored and supported us throughout the event. It’s not too late to give generously. Follow the link – https://www.gofundme.com/24ksmqc

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We are 1! Join the celebration on 6th August in Shoreditch

A year has passed since we became an official charity. And what a year it has been with so many smiles, stories and achievements. And we would love to celebrate with you.

On 6th August, we will be celebrating our first anniversary at Red Gallery in Shoreditch. It promises to be an amazing night with loads of great acts, amazing people and cool vibes.

With a diverse night of entertainment ranging from live music featuring rock, pop and soul, great acts like Norris ‘Da Boss’ Windross & MC Creed and some of London’s best funky house, RnB, hip-hop and UK garage DJs we’re expecting a sell-out.

Early bird tickets are currently on sale and going quickly so make sure you get your ticket soon https://billetto.co.uk/en/events/thefutureisnow and come and enjoy an amazing night full of surprises.

We will also be giving all of those of you who have not yet signed up as a donor the opportunity to do so as we continue to look for a match for Tommy.

We look forward to seeing you and all your friends and family there for an unforgettable celebration!

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Making our mark at the Caribbean Culture Festival

Colourful. Fun. Informative. Educational. And Positive – these are the adjectives that describe the Carribbean Culture Festival that Race Against Blood Cancer attended on 3rd July.

 

Thanks to a few connections and good words on the work that we have done so far, we were kindly invited to join the celebrations at Millennium Hotel on Gloucester Road and run a donor drive as part of the Match4Tommy campaign.

 

The drive was a roaring success and allowed us to go home fuelled with smiles, love and energy as we managed to sign up 70 new donors to the register, what more with no prior advertising. But thanks to the captive audience, brilliant event organisers and the microphone that we were given to go on stage and talk about our work, our vision and why signing up was so important, we were able to win everyone’s hearts.

 

As a family friendly environment, a number of people came up to us and mentioned how they felt the Match4Tommy appeal was so important and that it was one of the contributing factors as to why they signed up.

 

As part of the event, Race Against Blood Cancer was surrounded by great performances, brilliant food and amazing people.

 

We can’t wait to take part in the event again next year and would like to say a massive thank you to Natasha, Eon and everyone else who helped make the day possible and supported us throughout.

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