Eleanor Bowman talks about setting up the East Neuk Wheelchair Appeal in 1989, which has now raised over £500,000
In 1989 I was invited to a presentation of powered wheelchairs at our local golf club. It had held the fundraising tournament the Peter Alliss Masters, and seeing all these kids scooting about on the 18th green was unbelievable.
At the time my family owned the Craw’s Nest Hotel in Anstruther, Fife, and we held raffles and had a jar on the bar that we donated to charities like the RNLI, the Brownies, and Cancer Research. We decided to keep it for a year and see if we were able to buy a wheelchair. That first year we were able to buy two and still give money to other causes. We’ve just kept it going ever since.
We’ve now raised over £500,000 as the East Neuk Wheelchair Appeal and bought 160 powered chairs and 30 manual ones.
I just love doing it and love seeing the faces of people who get their mobility back. If I didn’t enjoy doing it I just wouldn’t do it.
Eleanor Bowman
We rely on people nominating people for assistance. We can’t play God and decide who can get a chair, so we leave that to the professionals. But, if an occupational therapist says a chair wouldn’t be much use for someone we try and help them in other ways. It’s not just local people we help, we’ve gone as far north as Shetland. The priority is someone who is in need and someone who would never be able to afford it.
It is great seeing and hearing stories about the difference getting a chair has made to someone. Recently we got one for a teacher suffering from MS, who is now getting back to teach some of his classes. The person who nominated him for a chair says he is like a new man.
It’s a full-time job running the appeal. We closed the hotel in 2006, and this along with looking after my grandchildren has taken its place. But I just love doing it, and I love seeing the faces of people who get their mobility back. If I didn’t enjoy doing it, I just wouldn’t do it. My husband helps me a lot and we have a lot of people who come and support whatever we have on.
I think my favourite memory is from the beginning when it all started. We used to have a disco after we made presentations and seeing the kids dancing about on the floor in their wheelchairs is something that will live with me forever. They were special times for me, very emotional but so worthwhile. Seeing their faces and the sparkle in their eyes was something that made it all worthwhile.
The biggest fundraiser we do is our annual charity dinner and auction in October or November. Last year we had Sir Alex Ferguson, and this year we had the football manager Sam Allardyce. We are really lucky, my daughter (TV and radio presenter Edith Bowman) gets us lots of different things for the auction, this year she got us tickets to the Baftas and they raised £800. We’ve had various things in the past, one year we got £12,000 for Paul McCartney’s mandolin.
Every dinner we do is different. There is always something that sticks out, whether it is the speaker, an amazing auction prize, or just the company that comes. We’ve had a lot of people who have supported us from the very beginning. It gets harder every year to put on though. The easy bit for me is doing the organising, the hard bit is getting people to come to events, but as long as we get support and we keep raising money we will continue doing it.
