The Embassy Jazz Club have been holding events on the Isle of Man since the beginning of 2014. Performing to a sold out audience at every one of their events but they wanted to do something a little different. So, in conjunction with the Broadway Baptist Church in Douglas they recently held a charity jazz concert at the church. Their aim was to raise some much needed funds for local charities here on the Isle of Man.
Money raised from ticket sales and refreshment sales were to be divided equally between 3 local charities, Wish Upon A Dream, Graih and The Isle of Man Special Care Baby Unit at Nobles hospital.
Scotty & Sam, the Embassy’s founders said:
“The Embassy Jazz Club, as a whole, try to do whatever they can to help others that need assistance. The Embassy Club have held several fund raising events throughout 2014 to raise funds for our named charities Wish Upon A Dream and Remember Me and we wanted to do something for other worthwhile charities too. We regularly have the use of a rehearsal room within the church's adjoining buildings and after some discussions with Bim we came up with the idea of holding a charity concert within the church to give something back.”
The Embassy invited representatives from each of the charities to come along as their guests to enjoy some live jazz and to say a few words about each charity so that the people attending the concert could hear first-hand from the people on the ground about what these 3 amazing charities do and how any funds they receive are used to help the people their charities support.
With several large events being held on the island that night Scotty and Sam weren’t sure what the turnout would they were pleasantly surprised at the number of people that did attended and added:
“It is lovely to see the public getting behind this sort of event where they give up their time to help others while enjoying themselves in the process.
In total, through ticket sales, refreshment sales and donations a total of ?465.00 was raised during the 2-hour event. This was split equally between the 3 charities and a cheque presentation was held at the Embassy’s Club's sold out event on the 30th November."
A further cheque for ?200.00 was later presented to Graih from Scotty’s full-time employer Lloyds Bank.
Scotty added:
“Lloyds Bank collects dressdown money each Friday from colleagues and the company then asks for suggestions from those colleagues each month as to where these funds should be donated. After working on the charity jazz concert and knowing that Wish Upon A Dream and the Special Care Baby Unit had already received some of this funding within 2014 I had no hesitation in nominating Graih to receive some funding. I was happy to hear that my other colleagues agreed and they kindly added ?200.00 to the ?155.00 donation from the Embassy Jazz Club.”
Bim from the Broadway Baptist Church said:
"It was really lovely working with Scotty and thank you to The Embassy Jazz Club for donating their time for free and for Pastor Leishman for allowing it all to happen."
Scotty finished by thanking everyone involved in helping to make the event possible. The Embassy Jazz Band musicians for their time and kind donations, The Isle of Man Creameries for their donation of milk, Gill Johnson for her kind support and donation of coffee, Bim and others at the Broadway Baptist Church for their donation of event posters, biscuits and Graeme Brooks & Carol Best, for sitting in a cold doorway greeting guests and selling tickets, Steve and Dave for their knowledge and assistance in helping set up the sound on the night, Pastor Bill Leishman for allowing us the concert, then being the MC and last but not least the public for their kindness in attending the event and donating so generously.
For more information about the charity event, the 3 charities, pictures from the event and The Embassy Jazz Club including their future event dates you can visit the Embassy’s website at www.theembassyjazzclub.im.
Photo - Graih attendee Jayne Platt receives 2 cheques one from The Embassy’s founder and Events Manager Scotty and the other on behalf of Lloyds Dress Down Committee.
