Rfc#1.

So as I was saying, Loch Lomond...

It turns out Erskine have already organised a day out for Jean and a few other Residents.
In a couple of weeks, they'll be heading off to Loch Lomond Shores, which is a shopping centre/visitor centre in Balloch, where the Steamship Maid of The Loch is moored up and they can enjoy a gentle saunter along the waterfront, enjoying the scenery, and eating their packed lunches.

Sounds lovely, doesn't it - well apart from the packed lunches bit, maybe.
So that's where we'll step in.
Apparently, there's a restaurant right next door, the Kilted Skirlie, which is very highly rated, and we reckon the Residents would probably prefer that to a packed lunch.
http://kiltedskirlie.co.uk/menu
It's not as cheap as a pie and a pint, but since this one is for the Ladies, I think we can push the boat out a bit again.
So a 3-course lunch and a drink would be about £18 a head. An Erskine bus can take 12.
£18 x 12 = £216.
All we need to do is tell Erskine to book the table and then we pay the bill. Simple.
[Edit: The final cost was £173.54]

I've now received the renewal prices for our two Erskine Season Tickets (SW2) :
Adult: £360
Concession: £252
Total: £612
Which is less than the £650 that I'd estimated, so that's good news.

I won't renew them straight away - there's no hurry, and you never know what might crop up in the meantime.

Anyway, life goes on.
On Saturday, we'll be sending a group of 12 from Erskine to the RDF Fundraising Night at Ibrox.
We'll also be providing them with £240 spending money (£120 for Drinks, £100 for the Raffle and £20 for the Football Card)
But I'm thinking that the Sponsors' Fund should probably buy some raffle tickets too - after all, the proceeds from the raffle go towards supporting both our Veterans and our Youth.
So I reckon we should chip in £100 of Sponsors' Fund money for raffle tickets too.
(Not Erskine Lunch Fund money, because that was used to buy the tickets and to pay for the spending money - so it's about time the Sponsors' Fund put its hand in its pocket!)
Everybody okay with that?
Good.

And a particularly massive Thank You to two of those new members -
bishopsgateloyal Taipan both of whom donated £100 each towards our Hospitality Fundraiser!!
What can I say?

A Motherwell player started it. The Motherwell fans finished it. Let's lie down and blame Mohsni because we no longer want him and he is of no value. Yes he's a prat, but at least he stood up for himself.

State of that Motherwell players hair
Stick to fighting in clubs ya poofy wee cunts

That mentality is gone. You'd have no faith the rest of the fans would jump on to have your back, so fuck that

You've just been humped twice and want into the dressing room away from it all and some wee prick pushes you in the back, he got exactly what he deserved.

Retaliation and a motherwell player punched him as well,Moshni wasn't to blame.

I've updated the Fund Accounts with all the CASH donations and purchases over the last month.
Fund Accounts: as at 29/05/15

Total Funds raised to date: £23,114.99
Total Funds Spent to date: £21,364.91


Recent purchases:
£240 - Whisky for Erskine - paid for by Keeps01
£160 - 2 Hospitality Seats for Erskine paid for by Dunny_01
£400 - Argyle Hospitality v Motherwell for 6 Erskine Veterans and Carers
£80 - Hospitality Drinks for Erskine
£217 - 36 tickets for Erskine, Combat Stress and others
£55 - 9 tickets v Hibs for Combat Stress
£67 - 11 tickets v Hibs for Erskine
£15 - Chocolates for Ticket Office & Hospitality Staff
£70 - 35 Rising Stars (v Motherwell)
£175 - RDF Fundraising Night Ticket Subsidy Donation
Total spent so far this season: £11,136.90


Funds raised since last update: £912.28£512.28 - Cash Donations (Dinger's Fundraiser) received from:
billscott, eejay the dj, govanblue, Jules Winnfield, offshoreworker, offshoreworker, only14me, Perth_Campsie_Ger, RangersChat, RFC#1., Saltire266, SoldierBlue1, SW3, TFP77, Travelrug, Young Bob
£240 - Whisky for Erskine - donated by Keeps01
£160 - 2 Hospitality Seats donated by Dunny_01
(All PayPal Donations to Dinger's Hospitality are still to be added to the accounts.)

Amount still to be collected from Auction Sales: £190

Current balance in Funds: as at 29/05/15
Sponsors' Fund: £521.96 Teddy Bears’ Fund: £2.74 Erskine Lunch Fund: £1609.28 Current Total Balance: £2119.27
So that's quite a healthy balance in the RM Erskine Lunch Fund - and it will be even healthier when we add on all the recent PayPal donations for Dinger's Hospitality - which should be at least another £800

Well done GB, was also good to put some faces to the names!
Thanks for all the hard work you have done over the season, im sure everyone appreciates it.

Best thread ever
only thing to bring a smile to my miserable face since that shite last night

Oh, and I hope you don't mind, but I spent £15 on some chocolates for Our Good Friends in the Ticket Office and Hospitality Office, as a small gesture of our appreciation for all the 'favours' they've done for us over the season.
As always, tight bugger that I am, I managed to find a good deal in Morrisons - I got 6 boxes for that £15.

Okay, I'll tell you.
A Massive Thank You once again to Loyal Fund Member Keeps01
Keeps works for a distillery, and because he's good at his job, each year he receives a few quid's worth of Gift Vouchers to be spent in the distillery's shop.
Last Year, it was about £180 and he spent every penny of that on Whisky Miniatures for the Erskine D-Day Ration Packs.
(they're in amongst this lot somewhere)
...
This year, I think it was about £240, and once again, Keeps has spent it all on Erskine.

And as you can see, it is being well looked after, by a Good Erskine Bear...

Oh, and as an employee, Keeps gets a good discount too, so for his £240, he's managed to provide what would cost us about £400 to buy in the shops.
For example, the Macallan 10 Year Old Fine Oak is £50 a bottle, and he got us two!
The Macallan 10 Year Old Gold is £35 a bottle, and he got us two of them too!
The No.3 London Dry Gin is £35 a bottle, and he got us two of them for the Ladies!
And the 84 Grouse Miniatures would have cost us over £200!
By my reckoning that's a total of about £440

So not only will the Erskine Park and Erskine Mains Homes have enough whisky miniatures for every Resident's Ration Pack, but they'll also have 6 bottles of Seriously Special Spirits to see them through many a special occasion.
Oh, and we've also got the 4 bottles of Single Malt, and 8 bottles of whisky that I've collected from other members.
So that's the Whisky all sorted now (once I deliver those 12 bottles).
Next up - the Veterans will be off to the RDF Champions League Fundraising Night at Ibrox, then they'll have their VIP Falkirk Wheel Trip the week after that.

Another big thank you to Specialized Security, who have donated another £50 towards last night's hospitality.
(They had already made a significant cash donation, as well as wangling us a massive discount on the final price )
End result is that thanks to Specialized Security and Dunny_01, we managed to get about £880 worth of Hospitality for only £400.

And thanks to all our members, we've raised over a thousand pounds in the last week, so we were well able to afford that £400, and still have money left to do more.
Oh, and I received the £100 donation from RangersChat last night too. Thanks Guys!

I popped up to Hospitality to say hello just as they were finishing off their cheese and biscuits. Up until that point at least, they were having a great time!
It was great to meet Dinger, and I can see why Carol is so fond of him.
And Jimmy, who found himself promoted at the last minute from the West Enclosure to the Argyle Suite (thanks to Dunny stepping in with another two seats) just couldn't thank us enough (about 5 times in 3 minutes!)
All the residents and staff asked me to pass on their thanks to all our members, and wouldn't let me leave until they'd taken dozens of photographs.
I'm sure if you asked them, even after the result, they'd still much rather have been there than not.

As hard as the result last night was to accept, I would imagine the Erskine heroes would know a thing or two about being in a tight spot, and will understand that reinforcements will arrive and take the day.
For after all it is only half time, and it's always hopeful we will pull off a result at Fir Park on Sunday, and give the lad's something to cheer about. For by the result I hope the lads enjoyed their night out.
Never say die loyal.

See this photo, combined with Commander GB's stormtroopers (Each and every one involved) just proves that we are well and truly deserving of the title "The People", as that's what we certainly are.
Well done to one and all for a truly magnificent effort, and let's all get behind The Rangers tomorrow, and with the support of our veterans, cheer them to victory.

Hahaha I would be corrupt!!!!!!!!
All the praise goes to Govan Blue, its incredible the things that guy does, all in the name of RangersMedia, like the boys said, if someone like u is doin this in 30 year from now and taking me to the game or giving me a programme, i know i would think you are the greatest GB so well done to you, well done to everyone on Rangersmedia, RangersChat etc
We are the people ....no other words ring true than that!!

Threads like this make me proud to be a bearette. I hope the men have the best night out and we give them the performance and score they deserve.

If I wore a hat I'd doff it to GB, Specialized Security, Dunny and all the other Bears and Bearettes who have helped to ensure that Erskine veterans and Combat Stress can get along to Ibrox tomorrow night to see The Famous Glasgow Rangers.
It fills me with pride and brings a tear to the eye and reinforces a lifelong belief that Rangers supporters are Simply the Best.
To everyone going to the game or watching on TV, enjoy the game, sing loud and proud and drive Our Team onto victory.

Great thread as usual from GovanBlue......GB Ill donate 2 hospitality tickets from my company, just pm and i will sort for you bud.

If you go on the website, you'll find that the cost of 6 hospitality tickets is £640.80
So I'm sure you'll be delighted to hear that once again, Specialized Security have stepped in to help us out.
They've negotiated a discount for us, and chipped in some dosh themselves.
So the final cost for us will be only £450
Which is £75 a head instead of £106.80
That's not a bad saving, is it?
Thanks once again to Specialized Security for all their help.

Great work yet again mate
the time you put in to helping these people is top class and to pull this one off is unreal
Gutted and pissed off that the home legs mid week and i cant get there untill i click this topic and realise were all helping these people get to a game then its replaced by feeling of pride (to be part of this lunch fund) and a big smile knowing how much these people will love the trip to IBROX.
We all chip in here and there but if it wasnt for your hard work GB they wouldnt be there on thursday take a bow sir