Wakefield Mag held our inaugural Mid Summer Mayhem Party Night on Saturday 3rd July, at the Horse & Groom, Heath, Wakefield. The pub had been closed for a couple of weeks prior to the party and we had an emergency venue set-up, just in case it wasn't open on the evening ..... however, come party night, we had no last minute hitches to contend with, and the pub was well and truly open for business.
Folks started arriving from 7:00pm onwards, with most congregating outside, at least until the sun went down, as it was such a lovely evening.
We had pre-sold 86 tickets and had 71 through the doors over the course of the night. We were delighted to welcome along members of Leeds, Huddersfield, Barnsley, Sheffield and York MAG branches, together with numerous others from local MCC's, other friends, friends of friends etc etc .... you get the gist !!!
The band, Twist of Fate, came on for their first set at 9:00 and rocked the house with their classic rock tracks.
Food was laid on by the pub, curry or chilli, at a very reasonable £3.50. Time for the silly games as we waited for Twist of Fate's second set of the evening, all involving making various items out of balloons. We handed out a prize for the best balloon bike in the bike build off which was won by Wakefield. There were various other artistic impressions built from the balloons as you can imagine. Funny how beer increases the level of audience participation as it were !!!
Twist of Fate came on for their second set of the evening at 11:00, and had the dance floor rammed.
We drew our raffle just before they started playing. First prize was £50, won by Keely Gill who was with the band (no it wasn't a fix).
Second prize was two tickets to the Yorkshire Pudding Rally (courtesy of Magic Action Promotions, Yorkshire MAG's events arm), won by Wakefield MAG member Mark Rhodes.
Third prize was an MoT voucher (thanks to Jumbo Motorcycles for their kind donation), and was won by Keith Mavern of Leeds MAG. The fourth & final prize, was a selection made from a pool of other potential prizes. This was won by Wakefield MAG member Micha Beckett and he chose a multi-tool and groundsheet (courtesy of Johnson's of Leeds).
Once the second half of the night got under way and the beer was flowing nicely there was lots of throwing of heads and dancing, and it wouldn't be a party without the appearance of our very own Slash. Twist of Fate did a great job of getting the crowd going and even the locals got up and had a dance with us, partying well past Midnight, inside and out.
We had a number of other raffle items which weren't won, and these will be carried over to some of our other events as prizes, and those not used will appear in our Post Christmas Auction, where they will be available to the highest bidder.
After paying for the band and the raffle prizes, the party made £283, which will be donated to the MAG fighting fund. A most respectable amount indeed. Everyone had a great time and we are already being asked when the next one is !!!
A huge thanks to everyone who attended and made the night the overwhelming success it was. Particular thanks have to go to Lisa & Tracey and Mick, who organised the party night, publicised the event and sold tickets like they were going out of fashion ..... top effort guys, MAG salutes you.
