December 20th, 2011
Supported by Carbon Financial Partners Limited
23rd May 2011, The Renaissance Club, East Lothian
Alchemy are delighted to be organising The Bill McLaren Foundation Golf Day in 2012.
The Bill McLaren Foundation has been kindly offered the fabulous facilities and course for a full wonderful day by Mr Jerry Sarvadi.
The day will comprise:
- An option of transport from the City Centre to Renaissance.
- Full Scottish /American breakfast in the clubhouse.
- A fourball round of golf, accompanied by a “forecaddie” who will guide each team off the tee, find your errant shots and advise on the greens. Club caddies are also available.
- A full dinner, with wine.
- Entertainment (to be announced!)
- Transport back to Edinburgh.
The cost per team of four is £1200.
Should you wish to participate please email Antonia Lee-Bapty on antonia@alchemyforcharities.com.
Thanks to everyone who attended the Bill McLaren Foundation Golf Day 2011! Read the report from the day here and check out some of the photos from the day here.
For more information on The Renaissance Club, please visit their website www.trcaa.com.
For more information on Carbon Financial Partners Limited, please visit their website www.carbonfinancial.co.uk.
Reserve your team here…
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November 11th, 2011
Alchemy had a dream to create a web based “dating service” to bring together the charity & corporate sectors. We wanted to call it The Bridge. Everyone knows what’s meant by a dating service and our concept was to follow the same rules. And everyone also knows that a bridge is used to span the gap between 2 banks, (we hope that that doesn’t confuse anyone looking for a mortgage), to allow a sensible dialogue to take place.
But we changed our minds because we discovered that we couldn’t be all things to all companies and charities. A dating service is reasonably simple in that if you can make the introduction the 2 parties can do the rest. Nature being good at that sort of stuff. It’s in the hard wiring. But we found that charities aren’t used to a similar sort of intimate examination; they get sort of shy and suggested that they would prefer Alchemy to act as introducer, chaperone, spokesperson and dating proxy. But, to continue the analogy, if we were uncertain of our charity’s maidenly (or macho) charms, how could we do this with unblushing sincerity if we couldn’t force them to brush their hair, or change their shirt – even although we knew they should. Well we just couldn’t..
So we thought “What if we do all the things we say we do for charities?” Accountants might call it an audit, corporate advisers would call it re-strategising and a property developer might even call it a bit of reconstruction. All of which, along with a few more tweaks and squeaks, would produce an effective, enthusiastic, well motivated, budget-conscious and very successful charity, with which you as an individual or as a company with a CSR policy to deliver, would just love to find.
Because you see, if you can find such a product, or partner, then you know that your good name is backing their good name to deliver more of the same, and so on. To everyone’s happy satisfaction. Charities will become more like businesses when businesses like them more. We made that line up, but we think we’ll use it again!
So that’s what we decided. So that’s what we do now. We’ll be working with companies who know what they want and charities who know where they’re going.
So look elsewhere on the website to see where we are and what’s worth supporting.
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November 5th, 2011
In aid of the Bill McLaren Foundation, Prestonfield, Edinburgh, 24th February 2012.
This is an invitation to the above event, which is on the Friday of the Scotland v France rugby international weekend.
Last year’s inaugural event had an enthusiastically full house. This year our line up includes guest speaker, ITV Rugby World Cup Correspondent & one of the most sought after rugby speakers Martin Bayfield, our chair, BBC radio broadcaster John Beattie and a tribute to Bill McLaren from rugby legend Jim Renwick…
We’re anticipating a similar attendance so reserve your table now!
Tables of 10 or 12 are available at a cost of £100 per person and table location will equitably correspond to the speed of your return!
Click here to reserve your table…
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November 1st, 2011
We are working with The Citadel Youth Centre in Leith. This may prove to be the first such project, where we support an energetic, well organised and successful team achieve more of the same. And they are all of the above.
The Centre, run by Manager Willy Barr (“I have the best job in the world”), who, by his own confession, is kept straight by a number of equally talented team leaders, has a mission to improve the lot of Leith’s young and not quite so young alike. Life is hard when the mechanics of family support and structure are lacking. Self esteem and self belief are the first to go. The Centre has operated in Leith for 30 years and is helping young men and women, through social activities and the provision of opportunities, to find themselves, find their feet and then to make a life for themselves. The Citadel also brings the older and younger generations together like Irene (“Thanks for this; it keeps us young you know”) aged 75 and Hope (“The older people are great fun and can ask their advice about stuff”) aged 10, which induces respect and for the young a model of adulthood.
We have a document which, technological barriers allowing, we will send to you. We will be going out with specific appeals, to generate the sort of funding The Citadel needs to remove the constant uncertainty of cash flow, Please look at this document and then give us a call.
We are working with the Citadel because we believe in what there are doing, in their competence, their energy and their strong desire to make things better. Frankly it’s not too usual, and it is worth supporting.
And why would you help apart from the knowledge that your money will be very well applied? Well, if you have a budget then it could be perhaps as well spent elsewhere, if you know where that is, but not better spent. And you will be on the website as a supporter and on all the literature we produce. Willy wants people to know how lucky they are and he needs someone to ask you to be a part of it When actually it’s not about luck at all.
PS If you believe that this note applies just to companies, don’t. When a young person has the chance to go for an interview it’s likely that the most important thing to him is the price of a coat, a pair of shoes or, wait for it, a haircut. Yes really, a haircut. See
www.citadelyouthcentre.org.uk
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October 28th, 2011
While it’s always a lot of fun, it is not every day when it comes to running a charity event that we can say “it was a privilege …”.
Admittedly, not everyone has the benefit of running an event at the home of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, aka Muirfield. Moreover a Muirfield that was untypically benign, warmed by an Indian summer sun and with the merest trace of what the more poetic souls might call a zephyr breeze. But not just the course, but the club and all of its welcoming staff, played a generous host, in every possible way.
And so it was that a full house of players had an early start to their clubhouse glass of bubbly and bountiful breakfast and were on the famous links by the back of 9. Best ball, full handicap was the acceptable formula. No messing. Winners abounded in short hole, longest hickory drive, best named team (Beauties and the Beast..) and top 3 teams and not a loser in sight.
Funds were raised through prodigious donations and a well supported selection of highly biddable auction items. Professor David Purdie entranced the company with his address. No surprise there. And Sophie Dow, founder of Mindroom spoke tellingly of the issues which Mindroom are set to confront and conquer. We were not alone in feeling moved by the cause and by her energy and commitment to it.
And all in the company of the Muirfield lunch and a plentiful measure of the House Red and White. And for the weary of limb, somnolent transport back to the rest of the world.
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