Some of you may or may not recall, a few years ago, I raffled my copy of Songs and Words, and my copy of 555% for members of All Things Wildhearts because A) I was a bit skint and needed the money B) I didn’t just want to stick em on eBay and sell to the highest bidder just before Christmas. I kept the value of the Book and CD, and the rest was split between two charities; The MND Association, and the Dementia Foundation for Spark of Life*. All the tickets were sold, and we managed to raise about £400 for those charities. And the man who won the raffle had “the best Christmas ever”**. The man in question (Hi Rick Matthews!) is a man who owns 5 Different copies of Endless Nameless (including a Japanese bonus edition release) so fair to say it went to a very fitting winner. Fast forward to 2024 - this time around, I’m not needing the money. But someone else is. More on that in a moment or two, first, here’s the prizes! 1. A Signed copy of Ginger Wildhearts Songs & Words DVD! Recorded live at the Leicester Square Theatre, London, Sunday 26th April 2015. The full show plus bonus interview and behind the scenes footage. Like the book. But with the songs, and a stage performance, and Ginger telling the stories. 2. A signed 2009 ¡Chutzpah! Christmas era tour poster. Signed by Ginger, Cj, Ritch and Scott (frame not included because it is a terrible frame, which would probably get damaged in transit, and will cost too much to send. Unless you live within a reasonable distance and you insist on the frame too) 3. An incredibly rare (I think!?) Smiley bones double pin badge, made from genuine Silver coloured metal (I can’t remember the exact material but it’s stood the test of time - think I’ve had it ten+ years). It doesn’t appear to available anywhere online which must mean it’s really good to have. And also donated by one of the ATW Facebook group admins! 4. A Brand New, small size ladies ’Ginger singing into a microphone whilst playing guitar’ T-Shirt. 5. A Brand New, medium size, men’s Smiley Brain(?) t-shirt. I had the green men’s version of this, and it was one of my most favourite t-shirts, until I became not the medium sized man anymore. At this point, before all the stuff below, I’d appreciate it if you could share as much as possible among anyone who might be interested. The Rules 1. The Winner takes it all (sorry for putting the song in your head but no other way to describe!) 2. Other than that, there aren’t any really - except please enter (the raffle) responsibly. It’s only £1 and you can enter as many times as you like, and all profits will be going to charities and are much appreciated, however please only pay what you can afford. From recollection, I think the man who won the last raffle (Hi Rick Matthews!) only bought the one ticket out of 600. 3. I’m using Raffall again - I’m sure many of you will have seen Ginger usinf Raffall - does what it says on the tin, and no risk of any wrongdoing on my part - the last thing I would ever want to do is think I am trying to rip anyone off. Where’s the money going? The short answer - every penny is going to charity. The overly long answer: So, last time I did this, I was brutally honest and needed to raise some money for myself for Christmas/new baby on the way. So I asked among the group for the value of the items, took that for myself, and the rest went to charities. Happy days. This time around, it’s not for me. I won’t be taking anything except potentially a few quid for postage if it has to go to London/Stockholm/Thailand/wherever. The charities last time were the MND association (a charity quite close to my heart) and a Dementia Foundation charity at the request of the band (because the money would go straight from Raffal.com to said charity, ergo no chance of me ripping anyone off) Since the last raffle, my family has now also been significantly affected by dementia. I won’t go into too much detail but I’m sure many of you are all too painfully aware it’s absolutely shit. However, this has resulted in my sister-in-law creating a local group for families affected by dementia, Together Forever, serving as a weekly gathering for individuals living with dementia and their caregivers to connect socially. I would like to raise a few extra pounds to help her and the families affected. However, I feel as though this might be a little unfair to ask for money to only go to my local area, and would also like to help families up and down the country too. So I have set the percentage of monies to go to Race Against Dementia at 45% of all proceeds - which will go directly to the charity via Raffal.com. The rest of the money which comes to me, I’ll match whatever goes to Race Against Dementia with a donation to Together Forever. The remaining 10% will cover any postage costs (which could feasibly be pretty minimal), and if the postage costs are less, I’ll split the remainder between the 2 charities. And I’ll gladly provide receipts. We did 600 tickets last time, as it was the closest to 555 possible. Apparently multiples of 100 are Raffal’s thing. Because the tickets sold out way before the deadline last time, I’ve set the limit a little higher. If the tickets aren’t all sold before the deadline, the draw will be made on Christmas Day at 21:55. And if you’ve read all of this, you’re an absolute trooper, and I hope you win 🙌🏻 Cheers! *Turns out Dementia Foundation for Spark for Life is a charity based in Australia. As much as I’m sure they appreciated it, I’ve made it a UK based charity this time around. **Not an actual genuine quote, but almost certainly definitely words to that effect