Children raise £1,600 for Burgess Hill Food Bank in ‘truly amazing’ 12-hour Drumathon

The 21-strong group, known as The Dinky Drummers, took part in the Drumathon via Zoom - and raised £1,600 for the Burgess Hill Community Food Bank.

Mum Emma Connor, who organised the event with fellow mum Bex Hallifax, described the fundraiser, held last week, as ‘truly amazing.’

A Zoom link was open all day and half an hour slots were alloted to each family between 7am and 7pm as The Dinky Drummers took it in turns to perform.

“The drumming was continuous as families tagged in and out via Zoom - this was also a lovely opportunity for the children to see each other and watch each other drum,” said Emma.

The idea for the Drumathon was sparked when Emma’s son Oakley said over the Christmas break that he wanted to donate to the local Food Bank after hearing how it supported people in difficult times.

Emma and Bex contacted parents of their children’s friends - most pupils at Sheddingdean Community Primary School - and some of them volunteered to join the drumming troop.

“Once we had 11 families we had enough people for two half an hour drumming shifts per family and a grand finale at the end where we all drummed together.” said Emma.

They originally hoped to raise £500 for the Burgess Hill Food Bank and were astounded when they raised £1,600.

Now they hope to make the Drumathon an annual event.

The children who took part were: Oakley Connor, seven; Ridley Connor, four; Chloe Johnson, six; Tristan Cuckow, eight; Sebastian Cuckow, six; Thea Cuckow, four; Orson Ansell, three; Henry Ansell, eight; Sammy Langley, seven; Amelia Langley, two; Tom Gow, seven; Ethan Heather, seven; Finley Heather, four; Indigo Mordue, seven; Rafferty Mordue, four; Eloise Flinn, six; Harry Flinn, three; Elsie Holley, seven; Henry Holley, five; Sam Hallifax, seven and Dominic Hallifax, three.