Sponsored by Glencore International and Canadian Jackalope Open
Grand Raffle
drawings will be highlighted by our top
prize Honda PCX, retailing at 80,000 baht!
Lewis Underwood
September and our annual events are coming up
unbelievably fast. Our Children’s Fair is only 44 days away on Sunday,
September 11th and our Gala Party Night less than two weeks after that on
Saturday, September 24th.
As we have mentioned, both events are being reconfigured
this year for your continued enjoyment, particularly our Jesters Gala Party
Night. In fact, we are so keyed up about this event that we are promoting it
now ahead of the PR campaign for the Fair this year. And, as tables are
already being booked, we can tell that you are just as excited as us.
After all in the beginning, in the late summer of 1998,
there was only the evening event of auctions, grand raffle draws and live
entertainment that was the vehicle to kick start our Jesters Care for Kids
Charity Drive. It was not until the following year, 1999, that we added the
Children’s Fair to the roster and staked a claim to September as our month
in the busy social calendar of Pattaya.
In the meantime the inaugural evening event was named
Jesters’ Pub Night and was graciously hosted by Kim Fletcher at Delaney’s
Irish Pub through its name change to Shenanigan’s and then beyond to Kim’s
move to Jameson’s 5 years ago. It was at the latter venue that we decided to
rename the event to Jesters Party Night.
Over the years, the live music portion of the evening
became shorter and shorter as the number of auction items increased
exponentially; requiring a marathon effort by the auctioneer to get through
them all. Though this formula proved to be a successful one in terms of
raising additional money for the needy kids, the length of the auction was
becoming wearisome for the party goers.
The other issue was that we realized that we were simply
becoming too big for the confines of the pub venue. We also thought it was
time for a change in the format of the evening in order to appeal to a wider
range of people.
In order to do that we decided to move to a hotel venue,
where we would also provide a sit-down dinner, where guests reserved tables
in advance. And, we were determined to get back to putting on entertainment
to complement the usual auctioning and raffle drawing.
After looking at a number of hotels, we came upon the
Amari Orchid Pattaya in North Pattaya just down from Dolphin Circle on Beach
Road. Instead of a having a conference hall located inside the main hotel
building, they had the Aranda Ballroom, a free-standing structure between
the Mantra and Tavern by the Sea with ample parking all around. As soon as
we saw it, we knew this was the place.
A meeting with GM David Cummings ensued and besides his
favorable attitude, we realized that he was also interested in supporting
local charities. What’s more, is not only did he agree to all of our wishes,
but sweetened the pot by offering other perks such as they sponsoring the
pre-dinner reception, as well as taking care of the stage, equipment and
decorating the ballroom to suit our event.
Besides for the sole purpose of helping the kids, let us
now outline why you would want to come to our gala event:
* Pre-dinner cocktail reception followed by international
buffet, including complimentary wine, beer and soft drinks throughout the
evening.
* Live entertainment, including music, blues, jazz,
ethnic folk and the Band of Smiles to headline the evening.
* Auctioneer Bob Philp, an entertainer in his own right,
auctioning of items from our favorite celebrity, Jimmy Page (LZ collector
set), as well as a snare drum cover signed by all the Aerosmith band
members, Manchester signed shirt by Steve Coppell, Liverpool signed shirt by
Ian Rush, Robbie Fowler and Lee Sharpe, and signed LA Kings NHL jersey by
Marcel Dionne.
* Grand Raffle drawings will be highlighted by our top
prize Honda PCX (retailing at 80,000 baht!), followed by QCar rental voucher
(25,000 baht), 2-night stay in Rachamankha Hotel in Chiang Mai (16,000
baht), one month stay in Southern Star Resort (15,000 baht) and 2-night
stays in prestigious hotels, such as Nirvana Resort in Koh Chang and
Pinnacle Resorts in Koh Tao, Samui, Bangkok and Jomtien.
* There will also be only 25 tables of 10, so that moving
around the room and mingling with folks at other tables is facilitated.
Gala Party Night tickets are available through committee
members at www.care4kids. info/contactus.htm or call Judi at +66895437534.
We plan to also have outlets at Massic Travel on Pattaya 2nd Road in Central
Pattaya (piggy-backed with the Pattaya Mail office) and Fountain of
Life Center behind the Pattaya Sports Club Office off Pattaya 3rd Road in
North Pattaya.
Individual seats are 1800 baht, while a table for 10 goes
for 18,000 baht. We recommend doing the latter, so you can choose who you
want at your table.
So remember the date is Sunday, September 24th at the
Amari Orchid Pattaya in their Aranda Ballroom and the fun starts at 7 p.m.
Dress is smart casual, which means the guys will most likely interpret that
as casual and the girls as formal.
Grand Raffle tickets are also now available at the same
outlets as above, at 50 baht a ticket or 500 baht for books of 12 tickets.
Time is moving fast and we hope you will join us for our
new, improved events of the Jesters Care for Kids Charity Drive 2011.
For more information, please visit our website at www.care4kids.info and
on Facebook at www.facebook .com/care4kids.
