AGENDA
The Christmas fair team
The PTA popcorn sale
My PTA life Holly Davis is chair of the PTA at Raeburn Primary School on the Wirral
You didn’t intend to become chair. What happened? Last October, most of the old committee stepped down and it looked like the PTA was going to fold. I was asked to step in as chair because I’d been involved as a volunteer for years. It was something I’d thought I might do when my youngest daughter was older, but it came a bit sooner than I expected!
Was it a baptism of fi re? I have to be honest, November and December were pretty hectic! We had to run two discos plus Santa’s workshop, a carol evening and the Christmas fair, which was a big one to kick off with. We didn’t have time to run around getting raffl e prizes before the tickets were printed, so I suggested we turn it into a cash prize draw, with £250 as the top prize. It turns out cash prizes are a lot more popular than Christmas hampers – the draw alone raised £3,000!
Many of your committee members were new to the PTA. Was that a challenge? It was a bit like starting a PTA from scratch – apart from me and one other lady, no one knew how anything worked. And while I’d
I didn’t have a clue about things like the PTA bank account. It turned out they were still using cheques
helped out at events, I didn’t have a clue about things like the PTA bank account. It turned out it was 20 years old and they were still using cheques. One of the fi rst things I did was to get a new account set up, with online banking. As we’re starting afresh, we’ve been able to modernise things quite a bit – we set up a card machine, created a Facebook page, organised class reps to communicate with parents through WhatsApp groups, things like that.
What advice would you give to PTAs just starting out? If you don’t have funds at the beginning to run events, I’d suggest going to local businesses for help. The old committee didn’t leave much in the bank, so we had to think how to fund the Christmas fair. We asked for sponsors on Facebook and were surprised how many businesses came forward. Seven different companies sponsored a stall for £50 each, while the local chippy donated food for the barbecue and a mortgage broker provided £50 worth of drinks for us to sell.
What do you have planned for the summer? One of the fi rst things I did as chair was to introduce myself to the local Asda community offi cer. We’ve already worked with her on plans for our coronation- themed summer fair in May and would recommend other PTAs speak to theirs. At the fair, there will be a Royal Variety Performance-themed contest, a ‘land a 50p on Charles’s nose’ game, a ‘make your own crown’ stall and a parade at the end so the children can show off their creations. We can’t wait!
pta.co.uk SUMMER 2023 11
AS TOLD TO: NUALA CALVI; GIRL WITH UKELELE: OLEG_ERMAK/
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