Team Honk is back, Baby with a grand plan for 2015

TEAM HONK IS BACK BABY

Can you believe that this time last year the relay was still just a map on my coffee table and that Annie, Penny and I were on the verge of calling the whole thing off as we couldn’t see how we could ever pull off getting a single baton from Lands End to John O Groats.   We didn’t pull it off though because whilst we doubted ourselves we didn’t doubt the blogging community and knew that if we said what was happening then it would happen.  Bloggers would make it happen.   And boy did they, you, make it happen.   Over £30,000 raised and 3000 miles covered.   It still makes me weep when I think about it.

Fairly soon after it all ended Emma Freud emailed and asked if Team Honk wanted to get involved in something she was plotting.  Something that she had done on a tiny scale for Sport Relief this year but that had been a success, and great fun and she was wondering if we could scale it up.    We jumped at the idea and asked if we could adopt it as our “Team Honk thing” and before you know it there are more emails, a meeting at Comic Relief HQ and suddenly the idea is happening.

oh and PS if you go to a meeting at Comic Relief and Emma Freud is there, this tends to happen:

Emma touched on the idea when she delivered her keynote speech at Britmums in June so if you were there you have an incling, but if you missed it, get ready for this.

There is going to be a Danceathon.  On a huge scale.  At an iconic venue that we can’t discuss yet.   On a date we can’t disclose.  Involving people we can’t yet reveal.  However, we need you to start thinking about getting involved, because, once again, Team Honk can’t do it without that.    There are two ways to get involved, the first is on the day (in March, that much I can tell you) at the venue in London (that is all I am giving you) where you will be asked to get a minimum amount of sponsorship in order to secure your spot.   You will then be dancing for six hours (not non-stop, it is being organised so it is fun and not some massive sweaty Zumba class) along with a bazillion other people in the venue.

The second way to get involved is to organise a fund raising event that ties in with the danceathon, by maybe doing something at home and there will be lots of support from Comic Relief to help with that.   Either by doing your own danceathon or maybe getting your children to put on a ballet show and sell tickets to family members to attend?  Or making cakes to sell too?  Who knows, the possibilities are endless.   But for this you are very much in charge and can do whatever you like to raise money.

Like last year there will be a Team Honk fund raising page and under that we will be encouraging people to sign up to get their own page (like we did for each team involved in the relay this year).

For those coming to the London event there will be a dedicated Team Honk sign up page on the Comic Relief site so that you can secure one of the 500 spots allocated to Team Honk out of the total spaces available.   You will need to pay a small fee to register, and then it will be into full on fund raising mode to get sponsorship to reach the minimum amount needed to attend.

Team Honk had to think big this year, how on earth could it ever top the relay?  Well how about raising a six figure amount for Comic Relief?  A six figure amount to help support some of the most vulnerable people here in the UK, and overseas.   We want Comic Relief to be able to keep up their life changing work and we want to show you how they are proving progress in Africa.

Here’s an idea…. say we get 500 people for Team Honk at the venue and we set the mininum sponsorship at £500.   Do the maths.   I am not saying we are going to do that but the beauty of Team Honk is that the small amounts people raise, added together make a huge amount.  And importantly, a huge huge difference.   I am not saying £500 is a small amount, of course it isn’t, it is a huge amount for a person to raise.    But by all being in this together and supporting each other we can make it happen, surely?  Add that to the figures that people raise in sponsorship from holding events at home and suddenly that figure is growing again.   Bloggers and their families and friends are coming together as one massive community and doing something rather special.

Imagine if bloggers could be involved in raising a quarter of a million quid for Comic Relief, just from dancing and supporting that dancing.

There will be an official announcement from Comic Relief some time later this year when all the details will be revealed but we have been allowed to give you a quick heads up in the meantime

So are you in?