Corby’s Taste Original and Red Kite Special Academy team up to raise over £8500 for the school

Corby’s Taste Original and Red Kite Special Academy recently teamed up to raise over £8500 for the school.

Two events were held on Saturday, June 3. A funday held at Corby Town Football Ground and a charity summer ball held at the Best Western Hotel.

These events were also held as part of Taste Original’s 35th birthday celebrations.

The fun day was free to all Taste Original colleagues and as they are fundraising partners with Red Kite, the children, parents, and teachers were all invited to join them.

The fun day was organised by Taste Original team, Nigel Laing, Craig McKirdy, and Jade Walker.

At the fun day there was a mini funfair which included a helter skelter, a big wheel, a face painter, tug of war bouncy castles, a giant inflatable slide, and Mr Custard - a children’s entertainer.

There was also lots of fundraising games, such as welly wanging, prize wheel, Mark Walker - the factory manager - in the stocks, a cake bake competition and sale, a raffle and a tombola organised and run by the Parent Committee with a star prize of two guest list tickets to see Tom Grennan.

Food and drink was available to purchase from The Club House and there were also street food vendors there.

Corby Radio were there to get the atmosphere going and White Watch from Corby Fire Station were there showing people around one of their appliances.

The Charity Summer Ball, held for Taste Original colleagues and their family and friends, raised money through ticket sales.

At the ball, they celebrated their Long Service Awards, had a disco, a buffet, a table magician, and a mini casino which was just for fun but extra chips were available to buy to contribute towards fundraising.

After the event, they held an auction with fantastic items donated by suppliers.

Taste Original raised £7000 for Red Kite and Red Kite raised another £1,524.50 from the raffle and tombola, totalling £8,524.

Craig Mckirdy, from Taste Original said: “Thank you to Ted Sheppard and The Clubhouse for all his support leading up to and on the day, White Watch Corby Fire Brigade - who were very popular especially with the children, and Taste Original CEO, Johnathan Ashmore, wouldn’t have happened without that support from the top.”

Karen Smith, Headteacher at Red Kite Special Academy, said:“Absolutely delighted to work with local company Taste Original. They’ve been supporting Red Kite for a number of years as community fundrasing partners. “We took part again this years in their 35th anniversary, where we had a fun day at Corby Football Ground and we’re really delighted they’ve raised £7000 for us this year which we’re hoping will go toward a wheelchair swing and a provision called colourscape which is music and lights that all our pupils can become involved in.

"It’s really important to us as a school to be part of the community in Corby and it’s great that we’ve got a local business that wants to work with us at the school and most importantly to make even better provision for our pupils with special educational needs.”