Just sent £710 to Hull Unity Shop raised from sales of music and merch during the last seven days, and that marks the end of 66 weeks of fundraising in this way to help folks through the worst of Covid and into the first steps out of the other side.
There are bigger challenges ahead as the new financial realities begin to bite, but I think this particular stage of the struggle has a natural end today ahead of tomorrow’s lifting of restrictions, and I’ve asked far too much of too few people for way too long, to not recognise a pause is needed before the next idea sweeps me away.
The official final total is £24,248.
I shared that around 64 different causes over the 66 weeks, and spread it around the UK as best I could, hitting food banks, soup kitchens, homeless outreach, community hubs, refugee support networks and domestic violence units, donating what was raised on a week by week basis and I’m so proud of the work we’ve done here, not just keeping money flowing to the frontline, but giving people something to fight for and a little hope during the darkest of all days.
I didn’t do this. WE did this. YOU donated, I just handed it out. That is important. Together we turned a very difficult year and a half into a collective action which reached far beyond any of us, and anyone wearing a t-shirt, drinking from a mug, carrying a tote bag or playing one of my CDs, has put food on a table somewhere in the UK just by making that purchase.
Class Action. People Feed The People.
Too many folks to thank, but without Billy Blagg on merch duties this could never have happened; without Kevin Pearson making that incredible Vagrant Art jewellery we wouldn’t have had the totals we got last Summer; without Chip Hamer‘s donation of Poetry on the Picket Line tees and books; without Rebekah Findlay‘s artwork; without Jess Silk‘s sketch; without people donating direct to my paypal because they were totally merched-up; and without the amazing people (and you know who you are) who bought absolutely everything we produced, none of this would have been possible.
So here’s the final tally of what went where and when.
WK1 £125 for Mesopotamia Cafe in Nottingham
WK2 £130 for Teardrops in St. Helens
WK3 £540 for Dundee Food Bank
WK4 £532 for The Florrie in Liverpool
WK5 £501 for East Worthing Food Bank
WK6 £335 for Help The Homeless in Glastonbury
WK7 £346 for Kitchen For Everyone in York
WK8 £915 for Feed Newport
WK9 £635 for LoveGlasgowHateRacism
WK10 £453 for DN7 Food Bank
WK11 £713 for East Durham Trust
WK12 £630 for Unity Shop in Hull
WK13 £462 for Tommy’s Kitchen in E17
WK14 £448 for IDAS (Independent Domestic Abuse Service)
WK15 £450 for Bradford Metropolitan Food Bank
WK16 £350 for One Heart in Bangor
WK17 £430 for Leeds South and East Food Bank
WK18 £400 for the Tony Smith Solidarity Fund
WK19 £330 for Little Sprouts in Stockton-on-Tees.
WK20 £364 for We Are One in Grimsby
WK21 £323 for Furness Refugee Support
WK22 £175 Helping Hands in Bournemouth
WK23 £238 for Fans Supporting Foodbanks
WK24 £143 for PCS Tate Commerce Strike Fund
WK25 £230 for Women Shall Overcome in Widnes
WK26 £110 for We Shall Overcome Sussex/Leeds
WK27 £240 for The Welcome Centre in Huddersfield.
WK28 £202 for Teesside Socialist Clothing Bank
WK29 £450 for 0161 Community in Manchester
WK30 £550 for Broxtowe Community Projects
WK31 £213 for Eggcup in Lancaster
WK32 £568 for The Station Xmas Appeal
WK33 £230 for Oasis in Plymouth
WK34 £351 for The Miners in Moston
WK35 £240 for ECHO in East Lincolnshire
WK36 £250 for Rainbow Centre in Scarborough
WK37 £205 for Louth Food Bank
WK38 £266 for Made In Stourbridge food bank.
WK39 £375 for 0161 Community Winter Appeal.
WK40 £125 for Super Supper Club in Bristol
WK41 £252 for St. Aidan’s Kitchen in Hartlepool
WK42 £521 for Help Our Homeless in Ipswich
WK43 £932 for Pathways in Chesterfield
WK44 £300 for Enniskillen Food Bank
WK45 £230 for Caring Is Sharing in Glasgow
WK46 £310 for Cwtch Up in Cardiff
WK47 £510 for Doorways in Derby
WK48 £245 for Sheffield Young Carers
WK49 £350 for Stroud Refuge
WK50 £402 for The Studio in Widnes
WK51 £630 for Food For Thought in Darlington
WK52 £885 for Blackburn Foodbank
WK53 £150 for Wakefield Street Kitchen
WK54 £155 for West Belfast Food Bank
WK55 £150 for S6 Food Bank
WK56 £400 for Scunthorpe Food Bank
WK57 £175 for Help The Homeless in Leicester
WK58 £730 for WSO Ashton-Under-Lyne
WK59 £110 for Birmingham Community Solidarity
WK60 £381 for Mesopotamia Cafe in Nottingham
WK61 £118 for Belper Food Bank
WK62 £145 for Bridport Community Fridge
WK63 £120 for Glossopdale Food Bank
WK64 £204 for Barnsley Food Bank
WK65 £650 for Hatfield Main Memorial Fund
WK66 £710 for Hull Unity Shop
Going forward nothing will change except I won’t be quite so insistent on a weekly basis. Sales of the new album ‘A Northern Coastal Town’ will be donated to Hull Unity Shop; sales of ‘Pride’ will be donated to the lighting fund for the soon to be unveiled Hatfield Main Memorial; and all other money will go to Pauline if she needs it, or whoever We Shall Overcome sees is in need the most.
This is just the start, but it’s the end of Round One.
And we’re ahead on points.
Thanks everyone. We did good.
Joe Solo 