Brodetsky Primary School recently received a portable stage following a fundraising campaign.
Local businessman Richard Stroud successfully led a campaign to raise funds to buy Brodetsky Primary School its own portable stage.
The Brodetsky School Portable Stage Appeal was instigated and organised by Richard after he attended an event and found that the school had to pay hundreds of pounds to hire a stage each time it put on a show.
“This was a situation that couldn’t go on,” wrote Richard during his appeal for donations, “I promised the headteacher that I would head up the fundraising to buy a portable stage for the school.”
With the help of Raymond Appleson, who has 40 years of experience working with stages and lighting, Richard selected a stage comprising of 40 units, plus two storage trolleys before asking for sponsors to help fund each individual unit and trolley, with the total cost coming to around £4,000.
Within just 10 weeks of fundraising, the stage was paid for and delivered before being officially handed over during a school assembly. A plaque, featuring all the names of the donors including JLife Magazine has also been placed next to the stage, with Richard adding: “This is a wonderful legacy, which going forward will be used by thousands of students from the school. I would like to thank Raymond for his advice in selecting the correct stage, and Martin Daly and Irene Jacobs for helping to collect the funds. Thanks to Manjit Hare and Rebecca Blythe at Brodetsky for handling the donations and claiming back the Gift Aid too.”
The stage, which will now save the school money during events such as shows and sports days, has already been used several times and will also be utilised by groups such as The Zone, local Scout groups, Leeds Maccabi and Leeds Jewish Free School.
Photo: John Fisher