Out of the blue, on a dreary day in London, two bits of good news arrived at my door.

Seven trade press colleagues, with event support from another, are to undertake the Three Peaks Challenge on 8, 9 May. They will climb Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in 24 hours, walking more than 25 miles and climbing in excess of 10,000 feet. With the proceeds of their efforts coming to EEIBA. Have a look at their website: www.justgiving.com/eeiba3peaks Some are known for undertaking this sort of challenge, but not all. They are all stars!

And then we had a cheque in from WF Electrical, donating the proceeds of a business promotion scheme where their customers agreed to give rewards points to us. Some more stars!

The day seemed to have a bit more shine after all!

We have been told to expect a legacy from someone who appears to have lived in a retirement flat in the West of England and was an industry pensioner. Apart from this scant information we know no more about her background and industry connection. They don’t appear to have any immediate family either.

It was something of a surprise to be told in the summer of last year that EEIBA is one of four charities to benefit from the estate.

This good news, for us, is tempered by the fact I can’t thank anyone for this gift and I have no idea why this person decided to benefit us in this way.

Although over the years EEIBA receives legacies, these are difficult to predict, for understandable reasons! So we neither budget nor forecast (unless we are absolutely certain) this income stream in our projections. This is, however, one instance when the unexpected is most welcome!

So, thank you. You have a made a real difference.

We have been sending out Christmas cards to our beneficiaries in the hope that they enjoy Christmas with their friends and families, and with our wish they have health and happiness in 2010.

It is good to hear from some of them and industry friends - some using EEIBA cards which is fantastic.

It is also an astounding and sad truth that some of the people we look after will be alone during the holidays, which makes the greetings from EEIBA more appreciated.

If the feedback from our governing body (Council) is anything to go by, which is usually the case, 2010 may see continuing hard times for us all.

This makes the letter and cheque from Carillion we have received so special. Their staff nominated EEIBA as one of 50 charities to benefit from a special series of events, marking their 10th anniversary as an independent public company. They said: “We hope this [donation] will go some way towards supporting the excellent work which is being done by EEIBA.”

Our calendar of events around the country is so important not just as valuable income streams, which they are, but also as a reminder too about EEIBA’s charitable activities.

The autumn and winter season of fundraising dinner dances and other events is now well under way. The season started with our long established Yorkshire Ridings Branch holding their “bit of a do”, in reality a prestigious black tie dinner dance, at the Majestic Hotel, Harrogate. Our Gloucester Branch’s Ball was well received at the Tortworth Court Four Pillars hotel on 13 November, with the Northern Ireland Branch Electric Ball coming up on 27 November. The Midlands Branch Christmas Party and our friends at the 12 Electric Club in Kent will be raising funds for EEIBA during December.

Our friends and volunteers in Scotland go in for the most spectacular Christmas Lunches with (hopefully) more than 1,000 guests at the two events in Glasgow and Edinburgh and a new lunch in Aberdeen as well. Sussex Branch is not to be outdone with no less than three Christmas Lunches in Brighton, Eastbourne and Crawley. And, Yorkshire Ridings Branch Christmas Lunch is also a firm favourite in the calendar (see the calendar of events on the website for details).

It is just amazing how our heritage of these events is supported so well, thanks to the volunteers in the Branches who put their body and soul into making it all happen.

powerBall, in the Great Room at London’s Grosvenor House, also went very well, with the industry getting behind the charity, giving their support and using this, and all our other events, as a way of entertaining their customers, clients and associates. Numbers were 200 or so down on the 2008 event with fewer premium tables and less in income from sponsorship, reflecting the difficult times during which we are living. However, net proceeds at some £225,000 were a fantastic result.

I am well aware that not everyone can attend black tie dinners, golf days, fishing competitions and all the other ways in which we try to raise money from events. This is why we are so keen to promote and develop our individual giving programmes, such as Power Lottery, company specific power draws, becoming a Senator and remembering EEIBA in your Will as a means of involving and giving everyone an opportunity to give and to know more.

On Friday 2 October, ECA London Region’s Grand Dinner and Ball was held at the London Lancaster Hotel. Thanks to ECA Regional Manager, Malcolm Conby and the efforts of ECA friends, this longstanding social event raised much needed funds for EEIBA. I am not sure how much we will be receiving but I know Malcolm will be in touch shortly with some good news.

The following Monday saw President, Ian Humphreys, at EEIBA’s Scottish Forum of Branches in Edinburgh. Ian had been to the SELECT Annual Awards in Glasgow and then went to the long established Yorkshire Ridings Branch annual PowerBall in Harrogate.

He joined me and colleagues Pat Sheldrake, Claire Paton and Tracey Mackay with EEIBA Branch supporters in Scotland. We talked about our new governance structures following Council’s decision to re-organise its sub-committees which arose from some really helpful feedback we received from an earlier Branch Forum about our decision making processes.

We went through the new staff structure in relation to the welfare caseworkers and then studied a detailed finance report while looking at some of our fund-raising tools. One of the agenda items was about Scottish identity. The general consensus of the meeting was EEIBA’s awareness is poor throughout Scotland and it was felt that a lack of feedback from functions to participating companies does not help our cause. Some of the suggestions put forward including use of posters to be made available at trade counters and staff canteens, using some of the trade magazines, particularly CABLEtalk and emailing news and information to supporters.

It was also pointed out how helpful it would be to have more Scottish beneficiaries included in the case histories part of our website. I was also really pleased that a couple of the Branch supporters are happy for their name to be put forward for our new contract visitors to undertake some welfare visits in Scotland and I will follow that up in the next few weeks to make sure they are involved.

The next day I had a chance to call into the Falkirk office and to introduce myself less formally to Tracey Mackay and to pick up on several projects and issues with Claire Paton. And then onto the Electrical Distributors’ Association’s annual Scottish Function.

The EDA Scottish Function is an unusual, albeit regular, event in the industry calendar. More than fifty years ago, when the industrial manufacturing base was centred around the Midlands, Scottish wholesalers devised a very simple formula to invite manufacturing colleagues to Scotland for informal discussions and contact.

Until then, with communications as they were, they had few opportunities to meet manufacturing colleagues in the supply chain. Even though communications have improved immeasurably, it is still a very popular event for people in electrical manufacturing and wholesaling to meet up informally over a period of a few days to catch up, update, have a whinge and moan, resolve issues, make new friends and just to spend some time out of the usual hurly burly of commercial life, getting to know each other.

I have been invited to this event for more than ten years now and every time I have been, it has proved its worth in time, trouble and effort to attend. This year, with sponsorship for the forthcoming powerBall my main priority, I had a golden opportunity to undertake some discreet “begging” at some of the sessions. I brought home with me more than £2,000 in cash from fund-raising during the Function, together with a valuable voucher for a holiday package at Gleneagles Hotel which we will use at powerBall. I was able to tie up some sponsorship deals for powerBall and recruit three potential runners in the London Marathon. I need to also follow through with contacting some new faces in the industry to leverage more support for the charity.

Happily I was also joined for part of the Scottish Function by Ian Humphreys. It was helpful for him to meet and greet so many people, especially as we will meet up with many of them at powerBall in the next few weeks.

It seems our industry colleagues will support their charity even though they are facing very tough economic conditions. They share our view about keeping as much as we can in the calendar. They were very pleased to learn there will be more than 1,100 people sitting down to powerBall this year and that our Branch events continue to provide welcome income streams and regional focus.