Oh What a Night !
Bumpstead BUMS
St Patrick's Day Celebration
Working for the community and Whizz-Kidz
The St Pats Celebration for 2004 held at the Steeple Bumpstead Congregational Hall will go down in history....for an event that almost did not happen......
An incredible amount of work goes on behind the scenes to make an event like this work. The organisers rely on many things:
The open minded and helpful support of those supplying the infrastructure
The generosity of local suppliers
The unending enthusiasm and commitment of the BUMS
The unfailing and selfless support of these events and the BUMS activities in general by the wonderfull supporters of the Bumpstead BUMS
We also rely on basics like electricity!
At 4PM on the afternoon of the event the power went off ! Whilst we did not know it at the time it would not be back on for nearly 14 hours ! High winds were bringing power lines down all over the South East
As St Pats is a slow cooker running all day sort of event we had a major problem.
The easy route would be to cancel the event and refund the tickets....that would mean we would have let down children confined to ill-fitting wheel chairs and support aids and the many groups within our village and surrounding community.
We considered the option that involved running the slow cookers around to various locations in the village to cook them on gas and hope that the power would be back on -The BUMS were overrun with offers.
Our community is the best ! Whether due to geographic isolation or a fortuitous distribution of people we have some amazing resources to call upon.
As it turned out though through a network of mobiles not connected to the local mast - which was down - we had an offer from Dean and Margaret of the loan of a petrol generator !
We scooted down and collected the Genny and then had another slight problem.....no lead to connect it with ....again no problem we had a lead in a BUMS (David and Lilo's) trailer tent! The only problem was that we had to erect it in very high winds to get to into it.
This was done and soon we had a generator going and warming the slow cookers up again but we had lost hours.....
There was very little fuel in the generator and with no idea of the consumption we had to dash to Haverhill Sainsbury's - supporters of the BUMS in the past - for some petrol cans and petrol. Stocked up with fuel we were confident that the event could take place. By this time we had been informed by the Electricity Company that the power would be on at 6.30 PM.
No problem at least we would have things covered if it didn.t....good job as it turned out. Things progressed nicely from then on.......until it started to get darker.....
We were in a catch 22 situation...whilst we needed reliable light we could not risk overloading the Genny - already serving 14 slow cookers - to give us light to safely work by. We decided to forgo the natural comforts and use candle and battery power to light us for the final preparations..........The Congregational Hall is quite small and we were well subscribed for the event!!!
What would normally be a relatively relaxed evening for the organisers was made more stressful by our duty of care for the attendees - some of them quite frail.
As the evening progressed it became clear that the power was not going to be on so BUMS were stationed with candles and flashlights outside the hall on Chapel Street to guide and help people in. As it turned out there were very few no-shows. This is a sterling and heartwarming testament to the confidence that our supporters have- BUMS will always come through......
It was quite surreal...being the first night in several years that you could actually see the stars...there was an enviously unsightly glow from Haverhill as those buggers had been unaffected by the cuts. Our very small torches also seemed to grow in power as the night closed in.........
It was brilliant seeing the ingenuity of people as they arrived with various devices strapped to or hung from their person. They came as usual looking forward to a BUMS event....this heartened the people attending the front,.in bitingly cold wind and fortified only with IPA and the occasional tot of whiskey.
By this time the hall was full of very hungry people and organisers who were very stressed. With no prospect of proper light until the food was cooked - the PA could not be hooked up - but it was comforting that the spirit prevailed and community singing started. It is moments like that which make you feel proud to be part of the community and feel that being a BUM is more than just a catchy phrase.
The food was going to be delayed....very delayed .......a room full of hungry people is a potentially a dangerous thing ......seemingly harmless one moment but who knows.......we had people in their 80's attending so we needed to keep things in order...the Australian decision was made.....we would serve things back to front!
As the cheese and soda bread ,normal after's for St Pats, were energy independent they could go out any time. The cheese and bread served, the supporters were happy. For those not in the know or not lucky enough to attend a BUMS event people normally train for weeks before arriving. They know they will have a magnificent spread, therefore usually forgo the niceties of breakfast and lunch on an event day or even earlier. Don't forget that almost everyone there had a cold and lightless home to go back to.
The normal fund raising activities continued, such as the raffle and we even risked switching the PA on.....This was a blessing in disguise....we found out that Dean and Margaret's Genny was up to the task but we also found out that people don't actually like traditional Irish music. This is a shame but flagrant marketers that the BUMS are we will always bend to the audience.
Dean and Margaret's generator kept up like a trojan and never skipped a beat. The small petrol tank had to be topped up regularly - this became a tad harder as the evening went on as IPA inbibation is not conducive to an accurate aim ....Petrol top up and a running Genny is not recommended but we could not risk a break in supply. We tried using the plastic glasses we had bought as stock for this sort of event but they melted after a couple of seconds. Eventually we sacrificed the Congregational Hall's measuring jug - We will be buying a replacement as the BUMS always make good any damage. Not that there has been any incident of damage or loss in the three years that they have run these events.
To cut what could be a very long story a tad shorter the event was a real success ................over £900.00 raised our best ever from a single event!!!!!!!!!!!!............everyone had a brilliant time. We all worked hard to help every one in true BUMS style. The potatoes were a tad hard but we would have needed two more hours of slow cooking to soften them and that would have meant riots ....although they would have been gentle riots the BUMS always aim to please.
Amazingly we seem to do what everyone would like to do but we get on with it. People can join in and support at any level. Attendance is great, donations are great but also the occasional word in the street or at the pub also helps. We are not followers of any particular faith but had latched onto the Congregationalists due to the efforts of the former minister Paul Edwards and the absolutely brilliant and continuing support of Sheila and Adrian.
The BUMS have supported the congregational church in many ways including installation of a hearing loop and various cash and infrastructure donations currently running at £2138.37. Last year we helped with the summer fete and ran a medieval barbeque in the evening filling the Manse garden with happy families and clearly demonstrating the part that the church and the BUMS can play in the community.
Back to the Genny and our tiredness...........
The BUMS are really nice people. In the old days the BUMS were a bunch of guys who met socially. They interacted with similar groups all over the UK.
Paul Edwards the then Congregational Minister gelded a few of the BUMS into action. Whilst being quite laid back he focused the BUMS on community fundraising. All of the BUMS lended their support and continue to do so.
One of the more recent BUMS had done a fair amount of fundraising for Whizz Kidz (over £35,0000 ) and suggested that they divide the fundraising efforts evenly between the community and Whizz Kidz.
This has worked extremely well for the last three years .............opening up wallets that would be closed to purely village groups.....
On the night of the 20th....we were all tired....very tired. Normally we would clear everything allowing the congregation on Sunday to have their tea/coffee without bits of stuff on the floor although we had cleared the space for preparation in the kitchen and pretty much most of the lecture hall. Our problem was the electric supply. Notwithstanding our exhaustion after a very stressful day we could not justify running Dean and Margaret's Genny after midnight for the Hoover and lighting to do anything safely - not forgetting that then event was delayed food wise by several hours...................so we were running later than normal. We had no safe lighting, no heating and no hot water.
Also please bear in mind that the BUMS know and are friends with several families near the hall who may have been concerned about the noise and the BUMS have an acute community awareness.
As it happened we tried our best. We had switched off then Genny and were working by failing torches and candles. I ( webmaster ) burnt my arm quite badly on the generator when I was turning it off due to the darkness. I know I deserved it as I had had a drink .....
We left after a very good night. it was cold. It was badly illuminated but everyone who attended had a great time and had also dipped very deeply into their pockets. Brilliant ! We tried to leave the place useable for the next day as far as the candle light we had available. All of the torches had exhausted their batteries by this time so we were pretty much in the dark. For the sake of safety we decided to call it a night and come back after the service on Sunday.
With no prospect of electricity ( We called the Electricity Company at 1.00 am who told us there was no prospect of power until at least lunchtime ) and after 18 hours on the go we decided to finish off the tidying up after the Mothering Day Service.
The night and the following events taught us many things.
Don't rely on the power supply
Bumpstead people are brilliant and incredibly supportive
The venue now appears a tad restrictive.........................we may need to cater for over a hundred in the future as we turned down many potential supporters for this event. The Lecture Hall really is at capacity at around 75 people. To cover costs we need to be able to cater for 120+ in the future.
A larger venue could boost funds and enable us to market more widely whilst also helping even more disabled children in the UK and local good causes.The additional catering effort is negligible compared to the core time investment and increased charitable returns.
The BUMS will have to decide whether to go for larger events or diversify with smaller ones. We want to involve as much of the community as possible and expand the community involvement so we all now look forward to some lively debate on Thursday night in the Lounge bar of the Fox and Hounds!
Going forward the BUMS will continue to support the community whilst also raising money for mobility challenged children nationwide.