Portobello PONGS

Here is what we achieved so far.....
..... through various events, sale of Grand Raffle tickets and calendars, and generous donations we have now passed the £ 30,000 mark.
A massive and heartfelt thank you to everyone who has contributed!

A few copies of the Porty calendar with stunning images are still available at only £5. It is not too late! Check it out and remind yourselves how beautiful Porty is. The photos have been taken by local amateur photographers who have very kindly donated their photos for nothing, for which we are very grateful.
If you would like to buy a copy/copies, please e-mail Diana@dccairns.demon.co.uk or Franny: francesisobelwraith@hotmail.com. We can deliver in the Portobello area.

Read more about the events:

Friday 29 January
Porty's got Talent

PGT was great fun, a brilliant night, well-attended and enjoyed by all. An inspirational night indeed. And it raised a fantastic £1500!

Many thanks to all who helped to make this such a success, in particular our fabulous host Sheila McWhirter, our sound man and DJ Tom Nimmo who made sure everything ran smoothly, our three judges Simon Growl, Smears Morgan and Blanda Holden (aka David McDermott, John and Fiona Barr) with their "witty" repartee, and of course all our talented performers: the Beat Brothers, the Porty Belles, Lothian Dance Academy, Molly McDermott, the Fun Fiddlers, Britney Fan Club, Transverse Trio, Abel and Sally Simpson, whose performances provided a fantastic evening's entertainment. The people's vote declared young Molly McDermott to be the winner of Porty's Got Talent 2010, joint runners up were Abel and Britney Fan club. Thanks also to Northern Lights for providing the lighting and of course the PONGS team (and friends), without whose hard work the event would not have been such a success.

Friday 27 November
The St Andrew's Day Benefit gig was a fantastic showcase for professional musicians from our local area. Wonderful music ranging from Jazz to Scottish to Klezmer filled the Community Centre, which had been set up with professional sound and lighting, with an incredible buzz. It was a sell-out and nobody wanted to go home at the end of the night. The highlight of our season of events! It brought in an amazing £ 1200.
A heartfelt thank you to all the helpers.

Grand Raffle draw results
Please check here to see whether you are one of the lucky winners!

1st Lake District chalet holiday voucher D McDuff Ticket No. 0071
2nd £100 worth of gift vouchers for local shops M McDermott 1280
3rd pamper prize (massage, cut/blow-dry) H Francis 3382
4th lunch for 4 at Blue Bean Cafe O'Carroll 4400
5th £50 voucher for Mica Hardware D Ritchie 3541
meal for two at Seahaven Hotel C Hosking 2413
£30 voucher for Mancini Hairdresser J Graves 729
£20 voucher for Allan’s Chemist N S Millar 5409
5 Refill vouchers for inkjet printers from InkTek S Shepherd 2310
£20 voucher for Mike’s Tackle Shop D Watson 5559
food hamper from Kitchener’s Delicatessen W Davies 3498
food hamper from Fairtrade shop J Anderson 2799
gift bag with candle from La Vie en Rose gift shop F McWilliam 4268
gardener’s tool belt S Scott 5612
£10 voucher for La Vie en Rose gift shop K Weaver 3942
£10 voucher for Gordon’s Butcher J Liddle 1235
£10 voucher for Mei Li Jewellery and Coffee P Hughes 564
2 bottles of wine (one red, one white) M McDermott 1288
2 bottles of wine (one red, one white) M McDermott 1383
bottle of Sherry R Leslie 95
£5 voucher for Boots Chemist K Malcolm 5417

Saturday 10 Oct
The kids' stuff sale at Parish Church in Bellfield St was well stocked with tons of quality items and therefore attracted many happy customers big and small. As usual, our famous produce (home-baking and jams etc) sold like the proverbial hot cakes. Vanesa's face-painting was a great hit with the children. All in all, nearly £600 were raised. Well done to all the helpers; and thank you to everyone who supported this event.

Friday 9th Oct
Salsa Ceilidh at Portobello Community Centre: The place was just humming! Friday nights in Porty won't ever be the same again. Everybody had a great time learning new steps, socialising and sampling the delicious cocktails. Thanks to Nick, Stella and their crew for all their hard work. This event raised an amazing £1200.

Sunday 27 Sept:
The PONGS stall at the very enjoyable and well-attended POD Village Show netted £410.11! So well done and thanks to everyone who helped out/bought stuff, etc. Very well worth the effort and not forgetting Franny's individual contribution of £27 for making sweet music. Special thanks to our amazing one-woman jam, bread and cake-baking factory, Ursula.
Bye for now, Diana

Sunday 20th Sept:
This is to let you know that we made £143.85, plus £20 from Franny's busking, during two hours at Car Free Day today, so it was well worth doing and thanks to everyone who turned up to help.
Thanks and enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Diana

Friday 11th Sept:
The Soulussion soul gig went very well - a good night was had by all, lots of people on the dance floor, and £700 were raised.

Saturday 5th Sept:
Saturday's bagpacking at Scotmid raised £255 - pretty good for a few hours work and we gave out a lot of leaflets /talked to many people about the WTSite and PONGS campaign. We received a lot of support for the campaign and many people were very concerned about the WTSite being sited in such a residential area, with the massive extra traffic problems this would bring.
A big thank you to everyone for their continued support.
Caroline & Diana

Saturday 29th August:
The Coffee Morning and produce sale at St Philip's Church raised an amazing £1500. Well done to all helpers, and thank you to all who came along.

Friday 21 August:
The Swish fashion swap event at the Dalriada was a sell-out and had a real buzz about it. Lots of nice clothes found a happy new owner, and £340 were raised.

If you have not yet donated but would like to do so, you can donate either by sending a cheque (payable to PONGS) to: PONGS, c/o 12 West Brighton Crescent, EH15 1LU. Alternatively, you can transfer money directly into the PONGS bank account, a/c no: 06002278, sort code: 80-18-31.