Good afternoon
Firstly, can we just say a massive thank you for giving us and East Bank Protestant Boys Flute Band permission to fundraise for the group and for the use of the B&T Base drum and Light of Foot bannerette. The total amount raised was £716.19p from our raffle on the Friday evening and our football tournament on the 5th August. Our bucket was in use for a few various workshops at that so overall, we are delighted with the support we received for Light of Foot.
Just a bit about ourselves.
The page was formally known as Irish Street Bonfire. It was just another bonfire page created by young lads like many other areas do with social media. It wasn't really used much other than June, July and August and forgotten about until the following year. It was only in 2020 when a few other fellas from the estate decided to try and help the young lads with their fire and in doing so, we came up with ideas such as fundraising, trying to keep the area tidy and trying to gain support from the community because we all know, not everyone will be in acceptance and understandably so at times.
When we all got together at the end of August in 2020, a few fellas took over the page admin and we began the process of trying to engage more with the community. Our plans and our ambitions were highlighted and from the get-go, the support was starting to arrive.
Fast forward one year and the bonfire in August 2021 was the first of many that has been praised highly. Everyone was praised in how the site was maintained, working with the community centre and residents. This was all down to the young lads for listening and understanding what they needed to be doing to try and gain more support moving forward and since then, it's exceeded our expectations greatly. We have inserted two pictures to show what a bit of fundraising and support from the community can do, bonfire wise.
Bonus balls, world cup sweepstakes, Euro sweepstakes, Christmas/Easter Draws, we wanted to make a difference and all of the above has gotten us to now.
At the tail end of 2021, we decided to go one further and take away the name Irish Street Bonfire and rename the page to Irish Street Community Culture and Awareness to make it open to those who might want to engage with us through our page as quite a few people were very sceptical commenting on the page directly. We wanted people to be more comfortable chatting with us and supporting us and here we are, doubling our followers within the space of 2 years from around 600/700 to 1.5k. The page has been given enormous credit recently and all of that is down to each and every last young person who has come on board with our ideas on how to provide a feel-good factor come the summer months ahead of the bonfire season.
Just this year, we were approached to see if we were interested in maybe a bit of funding through ACT Initiative, a new programme called Building Cultural Networks and without hesitation we accepted. The events that we've been able to provide for the residents and planning for next year really has excited us all and we firmly believe that doing things the right way benefit our community and put a positive view on such months of the year.
Last but not least, I personally chose Light of Foot as a charity to fundraise for. With so much planned, it was only right that we give back to a group that we felt was close to what we all believe in. We could have picked numerous groups but due to the Apprentice Boys parade taking place through our estate every August, it was only fitting that we highlight the importance that it's not just your everyday person who is sadly suffering from mental health issues, but those who are parading beside us in the ranks of our bands, our lodges and our clubs. We felt it was important to let everyone know that we are one and we are a family and that there are bandsmen, bands women and all those former members out there who are more than happy to have a chat if they could just reach out and take that first step.
It's ok to be not ok and for light of foot, we hope the funds that we raised helps moving forward for the group and once again, thank you very much for allowing us to do so.
Irish Street Community Culture and Awareness
East Bank Protestant Boys Flute Band
Our team is here to help you, and we've made it easy to get in touch with us. Simply fill out our short and engaging contact form to let us know how we can assist you. We'll be in touch as soon as possible to discuss your needs and provide you with the support you need.