The countdown is on. Three days until the start of this year’s birthday fundRAiser. We are kicking off on Thursday with the auctions on eBay. (Read more about the small print HERE.) While I can’t give you the exact time of the first listing going live, I envisage that it will be mid-afternoon on Thursday. Announcements will be made here on blog and on my Twitter. As in previous years, I will have a full list of items here on my blog with descriptions, a photo of and the links to the respective listing so you can click through and start bidding tout-de-suite.

The full list of items will be posted once the auctions are live, but for now here is a little teaser of things to come…

The above mentioned “archive” has accumulated in my house over the last while. I have a treasure box full of wonderful fan items, most donated by fellow fans, some bought by myself. Among the items in the auctions this year are some gorgeous, original posters from The Crucible 2014, stickers and coasters, as well as magazines with interviews with Richard. The fundraiser is the perfect opportunity to complete your very own archive of Richard Armitage-related items, both official merchandise like the Crucible posters (donated by SahRA) or magazines, and fan-made, professional items such as the custom-designed stickers and coasters (from the donation hoard by Young).

I think it is pretty cool how donations from even a few years ago are still making a difference with our fundraiser. Add to that the fact that the auctions effectively “recycle” fan items! By that I don’t mean that items are upcycled into new items with a different functionality (although that also happens), but that items such as DVDs, CDs and programmes are sold through our auctions and then often find their way back into the archive (and future auctions) because they are donated back. That is a true circular economy.

Thank you!

More donor names will be named as we run up to the start of the auctions, however, I would already like to send a huge massive thank you to all donors to this year’s fundraiser, both on eBay and on Etsy. The fundraiser would not be possible without your contributions. Your generosity, creativity and enthusiasm drives this community effort, and I am delighted to helm it this year for the 8th time. Our tally so far, counting the proceeds of all birthday as well as the December fundraisers, has been €29,804.07. So I think it is pretty safe to say that we will cross the €30,000 mark during this birthday fundraiser. Incredible!!!

As in previous years, those who would like to contribute money are welcome to add to our fundraiser by donating via Paypal. I have already activated the Paypal button on this blog. You can find it in the sidebar at the top right. If you donate via Paypal, please write “2022 Birthday Fundraiser” in the box on the Paypal site, and label the donation as a gift so that fewer fees are incurred.  The donation button is already live.

So that is all for now – but more teasing to come soon.