A beautiful fit

A big welcome and a massive ‘congratulations!’ to our colleagues at Dovetail Services, who have committed to support MagAid as one of their charities of choice.

Driven by the irrepressible Ranj Begley, Dovetail has already put in place a formidable fundraising team that registered an amazing £800 from its Dovetail Geek Day (pic below) on August 2.

Dovetail, a Strategic Partner of the PPA, promises this will be the first of many fundraising activities for MagAid and we’re really excited to have them on board.

Thanks to all involved!

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Covered in Glory

News is reaching us from the PPA Events team (across the office) that last night’s awards ceremony raised more than £4,000 for MagAid.

The fantastic generosity of everyone at the Grosvenor House Hotel follows a hefty donation from attendees at JLD Media’s SCEPTRE Awards on Wednesday night, making it a big week for MagAid.

Thank you to everyone who has given their hard-earned money for our great cause and if you’re a publisher with an event coming up, please consider helping MagAid at your event.

Shopping Centres of the World Unite

A big thank you to all the (no doubt bleary-eyed) attendees at last night’s SCEPTRE Awards 2012 at the Dorchester Hotel.

The event, which celebrates the best people in the shopping centre industry, raised a magnificent £3,215 for MagAid through table donations. Our thanks to JLD Media’s Tim Langford and the team at Shopping Centre magazine for their support.

We’re hoping for more good news from tonight’s PPA Awards at the Grosvenor House Hotel and we’ll keep you posted with how much we raise. If you’re coming along, please give generously!

Anyone for golf?

If you fancy playing 18 holes for a good cause, then sign up for the MagAid Charity Golf Day on September 19 at Bletchingly Golf Club in Surrey.

The day is being organised by Signature Publishing Ltd who promise a great test of your golfing talents on a fine course. Failing that you can rely on good company, opportunities to win prizes, and the chance to raise money for a major and important cause.

There will be coffee and bacon rolls on arrival followed by golf, then lunch and prize giving. It only costs £59 per player for the day – single players are very welcome, or you can sign up with your friends and colleagues.

For the full details and to register your place, download the application form or contact Andy Bone or Clive Foskett.

Greenslade on MagAid

Thanks to Roy Greenslade for his great blog on MediaGuardian about the launch of MagAid. You can read it in full here and please make sure to link, tweet and spread the word.

Roy’s blog coincided with the PPA’s Conference, Publishing+, which brought together the leading figures in the industry for a day of discussion and reflection on the matters that matter to publishers in 2012.

In his opening address, PPA Chairman Kevin Hand highlighted MagAid and literacy as one of the many issues that the PPA will be turning its attentions to this year. So, if you’re a publisher, now is a great time to think about how you can raise money to help this fantastic cause.

Thank you!

We begin this blog with an ending. On April 18, our MagAid pilot at the City of London Academy in Southwark came to a close and we wanted to use this post to say a big thank you to those who have played an important part in MagAid’s early days.

Firstly, we are incredibly grateful to the Principal, Richard Bannister; Head of Sixth Form, Abi Blessing; Head Girl, Rada; and all the sixth formers and staff at CoLA who made the project such a success.

We’d also like to say a big thank you to Ed Bearryman of Match of the Day, Karen O’Brien of Mizz, and Zoe Shenton of Top of the Pops for donating their valuable time and bringing the sessions to life for the children involved.

And, finally, thank you to Clive Foskett of Signature Publishing, without whom MagAid would not exist and this first – and vital – phase of the pilot would not have got off the ground (so to speak).

Following a review of the results, we’ll be looking to build on the momentum from the CoLA programme and take MagAid to the next stage. So, at least we’re ending with a beginning.