Give and you will receive real benefits

Well, the World Cup is now long gone. We were all seduced into thinking how great it would be. But would you bet your house on England winning the football — or the Ashes? Of course not.

Yes, we may have gained a little business, but the tournament is over and we have to carry on for the next four years.

We are not a football pub. We are a community pub that offers food and numerous events with and for our local community. My wife, Sue, and I believe that by giving, we receive. So far this year we have raised more than £22,000 for charity. We get ourselves, our staff and our customers involved. We believe that putting on events for charity keeps our pub vibrant.

Yes, it sometimes involves getting your hands dirty — and your feet wet. A few weeks ago we participated in the Bedford River Festival, a huge event attended by over 250,000 people.

On the Saturday we were in the parade and on the Sunday we entered two rafts in the raft race — we were optimistic about improving on last time, when we were the first to sink. (Even so, it was great fun and we raised money for a local school for disabled children.) This year our rafts made the final out of 45 — and neither sank.

Other ways to raise funds and get bums on seats on a quiet night is to run fundraising quizzes. We hold two a month. We include a ploughman's supper and quizzers pay £5 each to the charity. We also hold a raffle. The average amount raised is around £800 a fortnight, with £2,300 the record amount raised by one quiz. We are fully booked until June 2011.

The benefit is that new customers visit the White Horse, hopefully buy a drink or two, and have a great time. They tell their friends (the best form of advertising) and maybe book for Sunday lunch.

Another fundraising idea that works well is to ask the charity to find a band to play a free gig. We have a local band where, sadly, the singer died and now the other members are playing concerts in his memory to raise funds for cancer research.

The charity sells tickets for £10 including supper (I charge £5 of that for the supper), and holds a raffle, and I donate what I would have paid the band. This raises around £700, and also raises awareness of a very worthwhile cause, while creating interest in our pub.

So my motto is: Give, and you will receive.

Nigel Anstead is licensee of the White Horse, Bedford​