A donation of almost £17,000 raised by a community raffle has pushed the Madeira Terraces fundraiser to 98% of its target – with just two days to go.
The £16,771 raised mainly by the sale of £1 tickets was added to the total this morning, bringing it to £413,421 – leaving about £7,600 to go before the full amount is raised.
If the fundraiser doesn’t hit its target by Friday, none of the pledged money will be released to kickstart its project to restore the crumbling Madeira Terraces – but with the finishing line tantalisingly close, the council is confident it will reach it before the deadline.
The raffle was drawn on Friday night by one of the three organisers Jax Atkins, with the help of council leader Warren Morgan. The other organisers, Derek Wright and Rebecca Bunker, were also there to help things go smoothly.
Jax, who has now been stuck at home all week so that people can collect some of the 630 prizes which were won, said: “I wanted to raise more than we did, but that will do.
“It will be strange without having the raffle to organise now. The night before we drew it, I was processing tickets until 3am.
“The best thing is that it’s really brought people together. We have got a rally good core of community support. Everyone wants more fundraising going on and we have already been offered prizes for the next one. – but let’s get Christmas out of the way first!
“They will definitely make the target – someone will come in right at the end and bring it over.”
And in a post on the raffle’s Facebook page, she said: “I want to say a HUGE thanks to everyone – to all you kind and lovely people who cared enough to give raffle prizes, to buy raffle tickets, to sell raffle tickets for us, to come along to our clean-up days, to sit in the freezing cold selling tickets and raising awareness, to travel to the depths of the area to collect raffle prizes, to go the extra mile to make this raffle a success and, in some cases, to give up your normal life.”
Council leader Warren Morgan said: “It’s a fantastic community-led contribution to the campaign to restore the Madeira Terraces, and I’d like to express my sincere thanks to Jax, Rebecca, Derek and everyone who has sold or bought tickets, donated prizes and backed this effort to give this valued part of our heritage new life.
“I’m very confident we will make it now, the people of Brighton and Hove have got us there.”
