Fundraising

Pub of the Year This award is sponsored by the Society of Licensed Victuallers in acknowledgement of the record sums raised by those working in the industry for many different charities and causes.

Judges are looking for the pub that has undertaken the most innovative fundraising activity or campaign over the last 12 months Blue Bell ­ York, North Yorkshire The Blue Bell might be minuscule ­ at only 36 square metres and the smallest pub in York ­ but its regulars are undoubtedly big-hearted.

Over the past year, the generosity of customers at the 200-year-old pub has led to local charities receiving more than £8,500 from fundraising activities organised by hosts Jim and Susan Hardie.

The main contributor was the sponsored bike ride by the aptly-named Ales Angels who, this year, cycled from King's Cross in London to York.

Jim was one of the five cyclists, none of whom get on a bike for more than a couple of miles per week, who made the 260-mile journey.

Jim says the journey should have been quite a bit less than that but the group got lost a couple of times.

"It killed us, the wind was against us all the way."

The agony of four days in the saddle meant £6,400 for charity, nearly half of which was raised due to a casual visit by a senior employee of actor Paul Newman's food company.

Three days after the visit, the Hardies were staring at a cheque for $1,500 (£1,026) personally signed by Newman.

The widespread newspaper and television publicity surrounding the actor's generosity prompted a local civil servant to top it by donating £1,027.

In turn, this lead to a local bookmaker upping the amount yet further ­ with a cheque for £1,028.

Another £660 was raised at the Blue Bell's first beer festival in November 2001.

This showed off the Hardies' ability to make the most of publicising the fund-raising events both locally and nationally ­ a key to the Pubmaster-tenanted pub's phenomenal success.

To increase publicity for the festival, Jim and Susan sought the services of pub regular Graham Hughes, who is just 3ft 11in tall.

The slogan used to attract customers was: "The smallest barman in the smallest pub".

Again, the result was national newspaper and TV coverage with headlines such as "Festival's just small beer" and "I'll have a short barman".

Susan recalls: "Graham was terrific.

He even refused to do a television interview because they wouldn't give him any money towards the charity."

During the festival, money was raised via a barbecue, tombola, and other collections.

As the pub is so small ("If you have 60 to 70 people in here, you can't get to the bars or the toilets," says Jim), the police agreed to close the road so the barbecue and fundraising could take place outside, as well as providing a spill-over area for drinkers.

Susan adds: "The people here are really fantastic.

We had a lady in her late 60s who was standing outside all day with the tombola.

We had no shortage of helpers who were collecting and washing glasses.

And throughout it all, there was not even a broken glass."

The Hardies staged their second beer festival last November and managed to beat the previous year's total by raising more than £1,000.

This time, Graham agreed to dress in white and serve Oakham White Dwarf wheat beer for extra effect.

Christmas time sees the couple going out begging deals from local businesses, such as meal or wine vouchers from restaurants.

These are then raffled in the pub and Susan says: "This money goes to an old folks' home down the street, where many are past drinkers here and still like a tipple."

Many other smaller activities are undertaken throughout the year.

The pub has a strict no-swearing policy with miscreants "fined" up to £1 for breaching the rules.

Fines are placed in a jar, which is also filled with all the entry money from the pub's weekly quiz sessions.

This adds up to about £1,000 per year.

There is also the annual auction of belongings left at the pub and unclaimed.

Another key to the pub's success is the backing given by customers.

Says Susan: "We could never do any of this without the support and enthusiasm of our customers.

They enjoy being involved in all events.

They are proud we carry on this tradition in their pub."

Holyhead ­ Coventry, West Midlands

Having your staff lazing around on a sofa all day may not seem the best way of motivating them or boosting your pub's image.

But according to pub manager Dawn Hawkins, you'd be wrong on both counts.

For a seven-day "sofa sit" charity stunt outside the Holyhead in Coventry, West Midlands, really helped to put the pub back on the map.

Not only that, it raised a lot of money and helped bring the staff together as a team, says Dawn.

The fundraiser was one of two major events staged at the Six Continents-owned Ember Inn during the year.

The other was a beach party.

Dawn says: "As we're an Ember Inn, we are all about sofas, comfy chairs and real fires.

We simply put one of the sofas outside and 19 members of staff took it in turns to sit there every day and night for a week.

"We managed to notch up an impressive 168 hours and raised £3,200 for the British Heart Foundation.

We thought we might have trouble getting enough volunteers, but all the staff were up for it and some even wanted to stay longer than their allotted four-hour shift.

"It created so much interest.

The press came to take pictures and passers-by donated money.

Some regulars put money in the tin every night.

The novelty appeal of the sofa sit was tremendous.

Everyone in the area was talking about it and one of the main benefits was to put the pub right back on the map following its refurbishment as an Ember Inn."

The pub used to have younger clientele and they sometimes caused a nuisance in the local area.

One of the tasks for Dawn and her team was to reposition the pub at the centre of the local community once more.

The sofa sit certainly helped the cause and £3,000 a week was immediately added.

Staff did not take much motivating when the next fundraising event, the beach party, was organised.

They donned beachwear and grass skirts, the pub was given a Hawaiian theme, complete with sandpit, paddling pool and inflatable palm trees and even limbo dancing was arranged.

That event raised more than £750 for Breast Cancer Research.

In addition, the pub retains 20% of proceeds from twice-weekly quiz nights, while also supporting local charities by handing out meal and wine vouchers to local schools and hospitals.

Running a managed house, which is part of a retail chain, does not unduly restrict Dawn in her choice of events or the causes she supports.

"Obviously, we operate under the company umbrella, but there is a degree of autonomy in what we organise and the staff are encouraged to make suggestions on the type of event we arrange and what charities we support.

We recently publicised the fact that we were looking for a local charity to get behind when we hold our next event in the new year."

Dawn says team members at the Holyhead are currently discussing ideas but it looks like it will be a staff auction, whereby customers can bid for the chef to cook a dinner party for them or for a member of staff to wait on them.

"We are still sorting out the details, but we don't believe in bombarding customers with too many events because it could have the opposite effect and deter them from coming.

A couple of major events during the year is enough to make a statement about the pub," she remarks.