Post by hyperhelen on Mar 17, 2008 15:54:26 GMT
Hi guys! This isn't Helen, by the way. This is Lukman from Norwich, telling you about our Sport Relief jam.
It went really well, considering how awful the weather was. We only managed to jam for 3 hours on the Saturday and 2 hours on the Sunday, but we made over £100 an hour - £531 altogether.
There was not much parkour, and surprisingly little tricking, to be honest. It was mainly dressing up as imaginary super heroes to attract public attention, with various displays of physical skills. We pulled a huge number of poses, and confused an awful lot of pedestrians. On the Sunday, one of the guys had the bright idea of giving out "super apples" when people donate money. According to "Apple Man", the more you donate, the more awesome your powers...
"Look at this guy! He had an apple, and gave us £5, and now look at him! He has super powers!"
*Jack procededs to roundoff, handspring, back layout....*
"Wow! Mummy, that man's really cool!"
...and now on to the serious side of things.
You need a license to legally collect money in public. In Norwich, you need to apply for a license a month in advance of the collection date. You'd have to research what it is like for other areas, but I'd expect it to be trickier for London. It might be worth trying to organise it via an established body with experience in organising such events. Also, you need prior permission if you want to collect on private property, eg. a mall / shopping centre.
One minor drawback we have in Norwich that might not be so bad if it's well organised, is choosing good places for collection. The best spots for parkour are out of the way, and the most populated areas are not so good for parkour, so those of us who couldn't trick on concrete (most of the guys, come to think of it) shouted, looked manly, and distributed fruit while we traveled between spots.
In a smaller city or town, you may be able to get away with not applying for a license. Jump Stoke organised a charity jam a couple of years back and didn't worry about licensing. In Norwich, nobody asked us about licensing, or what the money went to. However, it isn't strictly legal, and if you wanted to do it in London, you'd be mad to risk doing it illegally.
A simpler way to collect money would be to be individually sponsored. We considered setting ourselves a challenge, like jamming all day barefoot, to encourage people to sponsor us, but we decided we could involve more people and raise money more effectively by looking stupid.
It went really well, considering how awful the weather was. We only managed to jam for 3 hours on the Saturday and 2 hours on the Sunday, but we made over £100 an hour - £531 altogether.
There was not much parkour, and surprisingly little tricking, to be honest. It was mainly dressing up as imaginary super heroes to attract public attention, with various displays of physical skills. We pulled a huge number of poses, and confused an awful lot of pedestrians. On the Sunday, one of the guys had the bright idea of giving out "super apples" when people donate money. According to "Apple Man", the more you donate, the more awesome your powers...
"Look at this guy! He had an apple, and gave us £5, and now look at him! He has super powers!"
*Jack procededs to roundoff, handspring, back layout....*
"Wow! Mummy, that man's really cool!"
...and now on to the serious side of things.
You need a license to legally collect money in public. In Norwich, you need to apply for a license a month in advance of the collection date. You'd have to research what it is like for other areas, but I'd expect it to be trickier for London. It might be worth trying to organise it via an established body with experience in organising such events. Also, you need prior permission if you want to collect on private property, eg. a mall / shopping centre.
One minor drawback we have in Norwich that might not be so bad if it's well organised, is choosing good places for collection. The best spots for parkour are out of the way, and the most populated areas are not so good for parkour, so those of us who couldn't trick on concrete (most of the guys, come to think of it) shouted, looked manly, and distributed fruit while we traveled between spots.
In a smaller city or town, you may be able to get away with not applying for a license. Jump Stoke organised a charity jam a couple of years back and didn't worry about licensing. In Norwich, nobody asked us about licensing, or what the money went to. However, it isn't strictly legal, and if you wanted to do it in London, you'd be mad to risk doing it illegally.
A simpler way to collect money would be to be individually sponsored. We considered setting ourselves a challenge, like jamming all day barefoot, to encourage people to sponsor us, but we decided we could involve more people and raise money more effectively by looking stupid.