This Hogmanay a staggering £19,819 was raised just from ticket sales to the Street Party, with an additional £8,300 being donated voluntarily by Hogmanay revellers, for this fantastic charity.
About the Brain Tumour Charity
The Brain Tumour Charity is at the forefront of the fight to defeat brain tumours, making a difference every day to the lives of people with a brain tumour and their families. It funds pioneering research to increase survival, raises awareness of the symptoms and effects of brain tumours and provides support for everyone affected.
The Charity’s goals are to double survival within 10 years in the UK and to halve the negative impact that brain tumours have on quality of life.
It adheres to nationally-recognised accreditations and best practice guidelines for every area of its work.
The Charity funds an extensive and diverse portfolio of research across the UK with the aim of doubling survival and reducing long term harm through improving the understanding and complexities of brain tumours, better diagnostic techniques and new treatments.
The Brain Tumour Charity offers a comprehensive support and information service for anyone who is affected, including a support and information line, Information Standard accredited fact sheets, online peer-to-peer support and a dedicated Children and Families Service.
It funds and promotes the UK-wide HeadSmart campaign, raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of brain tumours in children and young people to make earlier diagnosis a reality. Earlier diagnosis will reduce long-term disabilities and save lives.
The symptom interval (length of time between symptom onset and diagnosis) was 9.1 weeks at the time of the campaign’s launch in June 2011. By June 2012 the symptom interval had reduced to 7.5 weeks and it’s since been reduced to 6.5 weeks.
Find out more at: www.thebraintumourcharity.org
Members of the Association of Medical Research Charities, The Information Standard, The Helplines Partnership and the Fundraising Standards Board.
Residents of Edinburgh and its visitors raised £29,284 at Edinburgh’s Christmas 2018 and Edinburgh’s Hogmanay from tickets sold for the famous Torchlight Procession and the spectacular Silent Light, which also gave free tickets to communities working with the Trust across the city.
Underbelly and OneCity Trust’s relationship developed further with the announcement of a special Gala show at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2019 of Danny MacAskill’s Drop and Roll, which raised thousands more for the Trust’s work fighting inequality and exclusion in the City of Edinburgh.
The Fringe Gala took place on 7 August at 7pm at Underbelly’s Circus Hub on the Meadows with a dedicated performance of Danny MacAskill and Duncan Shaw’s Drop and Roll show from which Underbelly gave £15 from every ticket to OneCity Trust. 50 tickets to what was one of Underbelly’s most popular shows at the Fringe were given to OneCity Trust beneficiaries.
Charlie Wood and Ed Bartlam, directors of Underbelly, met the Lord Provost of Edinburgh and Chair of OneCity Trust, the Right Hon. Frank Ross to hand over a cheque from Edinburgh’s Christmas and Edinburgh’s Hogmanay for £29,284.
Underbelly is delighted to support OneCity Trust because it makes such a positive impact on local communities across Edinburgh now and for the future.
The money raised goes directly towards supporting community initiatives in all corners of the Capital, helping to fund fantastic projects which tackle poverty, inequality and exclusion.
On 1 December, Edinburgh’s Christmas took part in St Andrew’s Fair Saturday which is a new initiative delivered in a partnership between the Scottish Government and the Fair Saturday Foundation.
St Andrew’s Fair Saturday is a mass celebration of the benefits of arts and culture whilst supporting social causes. Scotland was the first country to celebrate it as a nation-wide festival in 2018. This pilot edition was a partnership between the Scottish Government and the Fair Saturday Foundation. On that day, all proceeds from Silent Light went to support three charities: Deafblind Scotland, National Deaf Children Society and Royal National Institute of Blind People. With over 3,200 people attending Silent Light that day, Edinburgh’s Christmas raised £11,807 for the charities!
For more information on St Andrew’s Fair Saturday visit – standrews.fairsaturday.org
Over 1,000 Loony Dookers from around the world brave the chilly dip by the iconic Forth Bridge.
Participants from Scotland and around the world flocked to the shores of South Queensferry, by Edinburgh on New Year’s Day, Wednesday January 1 2020, to brave the chilly waters of the Firth of Forth for the Loony Dook as part of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay.
1,100 ‘Dookers’ including Ed Bartlam and Charlie Wood co-directors of Underbelly who produce Edinburgh’s Hogmanay on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council, and Cllr Donald Wilson, Culture and Communities Convener for the City of Edinburgh Council joined the parade through the streets of South Queensferry before taking the dip into the icy waters, overlooked by the iconic Forth Bridges.
Thousands of spectators lined the streets to cheer on the brave and the bold, decked out in every manner of fancy-dress imaginable ranging from the brilliantly crafted cardboard boat and airplane, to Donald Trump, a can of Iron Bru, a T Rex, a pair of lobsters, Mr Blobby and a brave man in a mankini. People from over 20 countries took the plunge, and raised money for a huge variety of charities in the process.
£1 from every ticket bought for the Loony Dook is donated to the RNLI. The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea. Every day of the year, people of all backgrounds get into danger in the water. The support of all donations means that the RNLI crews can save lives quickly, safely and effectively.
All donations were made when purchasing tickets to all events and shows at each festival.
About The Brain Tumour Charity
The Brain Tumour Charity is at the forefront of the fight to defeat brain tumours, making a difference every day to the lives of people with a brain tumour and their families. It funds pioneering research to increase survival, raises awareness of the symptoms and effects of brain tumours and provides support for everyone affected.
The Charity’s goals are to double survival within 10 years in the UK and to halve the negative impact that brain tumours have on quality of life.
It adheres to nationally-recognised accreditations and best practice guidelines for every area of its work.
The Charity funds an extensive and diverse portfolio of research across the UK with the aim of doubling survival and reducing long term harm through improving the understanding and complexities of brain tumours, better diagnostic techniques and new treatments.
The Brain Tumour Charity offers a comprehensive support and information service for anyone who is affected, including a support and information line, Information Standard accredited fact sheets, online peer-to-peer support and a dedicated Children and Families Service.
It funds and promotes the UK-wide HeadSmart campaign, raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of brain tumours in children and young people to make earlier diagnosis a reality. Earlier diagnosis will reduce long-term disabilities and save lives.
The symptom interval (length of time between symptom onset and diagnosis) was 9.1 weeks at the time of the campaign’s launch in June 2011. By June 2012 the symptom interval had reduced to 7.5 weeks and it’s since been reduced to 6.5 weeks.
Find out more at: www.thebraintumourcharity.org
Members of the Association of Medical Research Charities, The Information Standard, The Helplines Partnership and the Fundraising Standards Board.
At Edinburgh’s Christmas 2019 25p from every ticket sold for the Christmas Tree Maze, a Santa Land favourite and the most Instagrammable festive spot in the capital, went to support Edinburgh and the Lothians Greenspace Trust’s Tree Time, an initiative enabling and encouraging people to donate towards the replacement of street trees. The £9,104 raised will go towards planting almost 20 new trees throughout Edinburgh.
The 7 August 2019 saw Underbelly’s Circus Hub with a packed house, gathered for a special gala performance of Danny MacAskill’s Drop and Roll raising £6,915 in support of OneCity Trust’s work in Edinburgh.
The reaction from the audience was immense with both the children and the adults making it the noisiest show so far.
The Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Minister for Europe, Migration and International Development Ben Macpherson MSP (Edinburgh Northern and Leith) and Underbelly’s directors Ed Bartlam and Charlie Wood were among those making a noise as Danny MacAskill, Duncan Shaw and Alex Coleborn showed off the biking tricks which have made them household names.
Danny MacAskill’s Drop and Roll was a sold out show during Edinburgh Fringe in 2019.
The gala was the Underbelly’s latest initiative to raise money for OneCity Trust’s work, following the £29,000 they raised at Edinburgh’s Christmas at Silent Light and at the Torchlight Procession at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay.
On August 12 Underbelly sold-out the McEwan Hall raising a grand total of £41,055.00 through its third annual Big Brain Tumour Benefit.
100% of the ticket income goes straight to The Brain Tumour Charity, the world’s leading brain tumour charity and the largest dedicated funder of research into brain tumours globally. In addition audiences gifted £1,035 through Underbelly’s Just Giving page and after a great night of comedy gave an additional £2,010 through bucket collections as they left the venue.
Underbelly matched both the ticket income and the money collected in buckets at the end of the event adding a further £20,010 themselves to the money raised in support of a cause close to Underbelly’s heart. Co-founder of Underbelly, Ed Bartlam’s son Alfie was just 4 years old when he was diagnosed with a form of aggressive brain cancer.
In what has become one of the hottest tickets on the Fringe, the annual line up of star comedians performing in support of The Brain Tumour Charity, this year saw Russell Howard, Jason Byrne, Nina Conti, Danny Bhoy, Iain Stirling and Flo & Joan. The show was hosted by LA-based Canadian John Hastings, who since 2012 has taken every major comedy festival in the world by storm.
Research into brain tumours is severely underfunded in the UK and yet represents the biggest cancer killer for under 40s. Around 500 children and young people in the UK are diagnosed each year but diagnosis times of childhood brain tumours are longer in the UK than in many other countries. The Brain Tumour Charity’s HeadSmartcampaign aims to reduce brain tumour and brain cancer diagnosis times to four weeks or less.
Edinburgh’s Christmas 2018 charity partner was NSPCC who work with children who’ve been abused to rebuild their lives, protect children at risk, and find the best ways of preventing child abuse from ever happening.
Voluntary donations make up around 90 per cent of their funding to help this great cause. Through Box Office and charity collections on Edinburgh streets – including the official start of the festive season in the city, Light Night – Edinburgh’s Christmas raised £13,594 for NSPCC.
For more information on NSPCC visit – nspcc.org.uk
Underbelly held the Big Brain Tumour Benefit for the second year running during the Fringe in 2018, in the magnificent 900-seater McEwan Hall. The line-up included Susan Calman in her only Fringe appearance, joined by Joel Dommett, Nish Kumar, Zoe Lyons, David O’Doherty and Rhys Nicholson.
The event sold out and all ticket income (£15,000) went directly to the Brain Tumour Charity, this was matched by Underbelly raising a total of £30,000 on the night and more in online donations. This amount then increased again through £2,600 worth of donations from the online JustGiving page and bucket collections.
For more information on The Brain Tumour Charity visit – thebraintumourcharity.org
Every year, Edinburgh’s Christmas works very closely with The Trussell Trust food banks around the city, encouraging residents to donate non-perishables, toiletries and unwanted Christmas gifts to a food bank donation point located at the Christmas Market in Princes Street Gardens.
In 2018 Underbelly donated 222.3kg of food and non-perishable items to the Edinburgh Food Project which went to the Edinburgh North West, Central and East food banks. In addition to this Edinburgh’s Christmas raised just under £1,000 in financial donations for the food banks and gave 12,000 free tickets to their users.
For more information on Edinburgh Food Project visit – edinburghnw.foodbank.org.uk
2018 marked the sixth year of Underbelly producing Edinburgh’s Christmas on behalf of Edinburgh City Council. In 2018 saw the brand-new feature Silent Light which fused together the 2016 hit Street of Light and sell out Fringe show Silent Adventures. 50p from every ticket purchased from Silent Light was donated to the OneCity Trust.
The mission of the OneCity Trust is to fight inequality and exclusion in the City of Edinburgh. Established in 2003 in response to the OneCity report of the Lord Provost’s Commission on Social Exclusion, the Trust uses the idea of a ‘community foundation’ to give people and organisations a means to reach across the divides of the city and support those who are excluded from the community.
Underbelly through Edinburgh’s Christmas chose to support OneCity Trust because of its simple and effective way to make a positive impact on local communities now and in the future.
Some of the projects in the City which OneCity Trust has funded include Edinburgh Tool Library, Fern’s Kitchen Catering, Fetlor Youth Club, Community One Stop Shop, Craigmillar Literacy Trust, Milan SWC, SABS, Big Hearts Trust, to name but a few.
A further 16,013 free Silent Light tickets were given away with 36 local charities benefiting, such as Aid and Abet who work with people leaving prison to help them in recovery and to avoid homelessness, Edinburgh Young Carers dedicated to working with and supporting young carers, North Edinburgh Childcare who provide flexible and affordable childcare enabling parents to access training and education, Barnardo’s Edinburgh who care for vulnerable children and young people and Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre.
Underbelly raised almost £20,000 through Silent Light donations, for this fantastic cause.
For more information on One City Trust visit – onecity.org.uk
Connection Crew started out in 2005 and since then they have employed 248 people with a history of homelessness to complete 126,017 hours of work.
Underbelly has worked with Connection Crew since 2012. In 2018 we’ve contributed 2527 hours of work to people who have been homeless. Getting ex-homeless people into work and breaking the cycle of homelessness.
Over the last 6 years Underbelly has contributed 11,448 hours of work to the Connection Crew.
For more information on Connection Crew visit – connectioncrew.co.uk
