A bingo club in Mexborough has been crowned ‘star fundraisers’ thanks to the efforts of staff and its customers. Empire Bingo raised a grand total of £8,046.31 for Variety, the Children’s Charity this year; the most money ever raised by any of the 16 clubs owned by Majestic Bingo Limited.

Danielle Borthwick, General Manager at the club conquered an 80 metre free-fall abseil from the ArcelorMittal Orbit sculpture in London’s Olympic Park alongside colleagues from eight clubs and Head Office. This activity alone raised £7.3k during the 2017 fundraising campaign and is the biggest single amount raised to date across the company.

Danielle had to reschedule her abseil which was abandoned on the day due to strong winds.

“I was really disappointed at first and thought I wouldn’t get another chance. It was such an achievement to successfully complete the challenge on a sunny afternoon a few weeks later.”

As well as the charity abseil, the club played a charity flyer throughout the summer.

“It was really popular with customers and has been key to our success”, says Danielle.

As charity champions, the club presented the cheque for the total raised in 2017- £45,255.50 to Variety, the Children’s Charity on Friday, 17th November. They were joined by the Bingo Association (which represents 99% of all UK retail bingo clubs) who selected Variety as their nominated charity in 2015 with the aim of raising half a million across the industry in two years.

Over the past three years Majestic Bingo has fully supported the Bingo Associations’ charity; from the dizzying abseils, skydives, wing walks and log flume marathons to bike rides, walks, fetes and raft races as well as in house charity flyer games, the list of what clubs have done to achieve this incredible total is endless.

Majestic Bingo achieved its three year company target of £100k weeks ahead of schedule. Following a weekend of charity games played across all clubs to mark the end of this year’s fundraising, the 3 year total now stands at £115,934.86.

Having raised £750,000 over the same period, the Bingo Association is on track to meet its four year pledge of £1,000,000 by the end of 2018.

Mark Jepp, Managing Director of Majestic Bingo, said:

“Exceeding our target by over almost £16,000 is such a wonderful achievement and all down to our dedicated clubs and their generous customers, we can’t thank them enough. The enthusiasm and dedication shown by everyone who gets behind our fundraising activities amazes me. Well done to Mexborough who now hold the record after beating Castleford’s efforts last year.”

The fact that we have contributed 15% towards the total raised across the industry so far is something we can be extremely proud about. That’s our Majestic moment.”

Miles Baron, CEO of The Bingo Association said:

“Majestic Bingo are not only brilliant supporters of Variety, the Children’s Charity, but are fantastic ambassadors for the UK Bingo Industry. Their incredible fundraising efforts are testimony to that fact Majestic Bingo believes strongly that playing Bingo is a social activity with the local community at its heart.”

Colleen Ettridge, Head of Fundraising at Variety commented:

“£115,934.86 is a fantastic achievement and is helping Variety to give disabled and disadvantaged children the chance to live a better life in childhood. Variety’s help can often be the only opportunity some children have to enjoy the everyday childhood experiences that many take for granted. We can only do this with the help of supporters like Majestic Bingo; we are extremely grateful to everyone at Majestic Bingo; staff and members, for their continued support.”