Gary organised the logistics of the party with more than a little help from Val, while I (Zander) organised the Draw and Tosh well, Tosh did everything in around and between. We managed to beg, borrow and steal a fairly impressive set of prizes. These came from a variety of sources including, in no order of significance whatsoever: the Freaks mailing list, Fish and his band, and the members of Marillion. The Draw was advertised on every possible forum we could think of, but mainly on the net, due mainly to the time scales involved and it was hoped that the whopping great prize list would pull in the entries. A suitable charity was chosen, we went for a local one, despite the international nature of the draw, because we felt the little that we would raise would benefit a small organisation much more. We chose to donate the money raised to a short stay respite care unit for children with learning difficulties in Nottingham called the Villas.

The entries started off quite slowly and there was a time when it looked like the whole thing might have to be delayed until a later date, but perseverance (and some fast talking) paid off and a last minute surge of entries saved the day. We had entries from all over the world, from as far afield as North and South America, all the way to Australia and beyond (if such a place exists ;-) Loads of people sent in money and when it was touch and go as to whether the draw would take place or not, so many people told me to pass the money onto the charity whatever happened. It was almost sickening ;-)

When the day for the party arrived, everything was nearly in place. Val put together a most excellent spread of food, the T-shirts were printed (nearly), the band arrived nice and early to tune up and I managed to press-gang some reluctant volunteers to tear up raffle tickets and enter them into a hat. We had sold something in the order of 1300 tickets so this was no mean feat. Then we all headed down to the Venue for the night's festivities.

Tricky's mates ESP came down to play a few tunes and it has to be said they rocked. Just ask little Joel! ESP played a pretty long set, but nobody was complaining too loudly, especially not wee Joel! And they certainly seemed to get the audience going! Then once ESP had played their set it was time for the draw as the carefully orchestrated and highly co-ordinated event slipped up a gear. Sort of.

Mark Wilkinson and Mickey Simmonds both turned up to the party and were kind enough to help out by drawing the tickets. (So if you didn't win, don't blame me :- blame them!). It had been planned to conduct the draw live on the net for the benefit of the international entrants. As the alcohol ensued the ticket sales continued to climb and by the time the draw came, we had managed to sell a respectable number of tickets. The numbers were drawn and broadcast round the net - although this wasn't terribly useful as time hadn't allowed the broadcasting of people's numbers. The draw was a strange affair as most of the prizes were going to people that were not in the room, but it all worked out and a few days later we had a grand total of 1650 pounds.