A heady potion of witchcraft and wizardry has helped raise ?6,300 for Junior Achievement Isle of Man.

The charity organised a two-day Harry Potter-themed* event at the end of March that saw King William’s College transformed into Hogwarts with hundreds of wannabe wizards queuing for classes ranging from divination to herbology. Chief executive Sue Cook said: ‘The event was a fantastic success – people are still talking about it one month on – but we could never have done it without the help of our fantastic team of volunteers. It’s thanks to them, King William’s College and the Isle of Man Steam Railway that the event made such an impact.’

Sue explained that the volunteers had been so busy during the two days ensuring the event’s success that she had the ‘wizard’ idea of arranging a de-brief session to give them an opportunity to try their hand at potion making and a few other activities that had appealed to the crowds in their hundreds. ‘We had a great time at the de-brief but more importantly, we pooled our experiences from the weekend, learned what went well and where there was room for improvement and outlined plans for next year’s event, which will be bigger, better and hopefully warmer, as we’ll be holding it over the weekend of July 13-14.’

After the magic of the Hogwarts weekend Junior Achievement is now brewing up some more events for 2012. They’re hanging up their witches’ hats and slipping into their Lycra leotards as they plan a sponsored walk along Douglas promenade on May 20 and the Alternative Olympics at Onchan Stadium on July 13.

For more information find them on Facebook or check out their website, www.jaiom.im.

*Warner Bros. Entertainment and J.K. Rowling were not responsible for the event but kindly granted Junior Achievement Isle of Man permission to use the HARRY POTTER® trade mark and other materials.

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