4-PAGE EVENTS SPECIAL SECTION – Autumn term success stories
POLAR EXPRESS CHRISTMAS FAIR
‘We brought the magic of The Polar Express to our school’
Rosie Bucknell, chair, Friends of Blackmore School, Essex (175 pupils)
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Who else helped with the ball? Our auction signifi cantly boosted our fundraising efforts and featured some incredible items donated by local businesses. As well as a watch from the Marloe Watch Company and a large hamper, donated by wholesaler Bidfood, which was the prize for our quiz winner, we had a break in the Cotswolds courtesy of Honeycomb Houses, two nights at The Flowerpot Hotel, a round of golf at Badgemore Park and a case of wine from Glenhurst Mechanical Services. Local companies also supported the evening.
How much did you raise? We raised £7,000, kickstarting the PTA’s fundraising for a new school playground.
ne of the best events we’d ever held was our Gladiators event, which included a visit from Zack
‘Steel’ George as part of his Zactiv programme. This success fi red our enthusiasm to do something even more exciting come Christmas time. When I came up with the idea for an
event based on The Polar Express, everyone was excited, including fellow PTA people on the national Facebook groups. That’s where I discovered a school that had hired a ride-on train from All Aboard Railways (
facebook.com/ allaboardrailways). The Friends brought in the actor and magician Paul Buonocore (
instagram.com/ paulbuonocore), who dressed as the train conductor, to provide entertainment while people were queuing. They were a perfect combination and have worked together since. We’re a small village school, but
Christmas is the one time we attract plenty of helpers and more than 50 people volunteered. One granddad was Santa and two of the offi ce staff dressed as elves, which was ideal, as they knew all about the individual children. We brought in a food company that runs a barbecue from a big train, and purchased books from The Works and Polar Express advent
calendars from Home Bargains to be given as gifts from Santa. After riding on the train to the
‘North Pole’, visitors were directed into the school hall, where train and Polar Express-themed stalls awaited them. One popular attraction was our Polar Express tickets, where pupils paid £1 to pick a golden envelope containing a ticket that revealed a prize. We also sold a selection of model trains that the children had decorated for a competition, each priced at £5. In addition, we ran traditional stalls, such as ‘guess the number of bells in a jar’ and held a bake-off. The children had a brilliant
experience, and the Friends made a profi t of more than £4,700. One thing that worked well was asking local businesses to sponsor the 90m railway line at £25 per 1m section. Our costs were quite high, but the sponsorship covered them. We used the funds we raised across
this and our Gladiators event to fund our school’s work with the brilliant Rocksteady Music School (
rocksteadymusicschool.com). Rocksteady worked closely with us on match funding to ensure we were able to provide a full term of music lessons, free of charge to parents, for every child in Years 1 to 6. Creative thinking and teamwork led
to an incredible event for our school community, which in turn allowed us to provide an amazing opportunity for the children!
School Fundraising AUTUMN 2025 33
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