Wear a Hat Day 2011

Throughout the month of March this year the Thorne Mason Trust have been fundraising in various ways across the county to support Brain Tumour Research's national wear a hat campaign for brain tumours that ran throughout March and in particular on Friday 25th March which was national wear a hat day.

The Thorne Mason Trust decided to hold a wear a hat gig as their main fundraising event. This took place at Withybush Pavilion on 25th March and featured live music from acoustic musician Wayne, locals Bands: Wibble, Leggofingers, Persona B, Honeyhead and DJ Eugene French, who all played for free. Everyone who attended the gig, including all of the band members wore their own hats and there were also prizes awarded for the best hats on the night. The main reason for the charity choosing to hold a gig rather than another type of event is because Mike Mason (the founder of the Thorne Mason Trust) was a huge lover of live, local music and this is something that he would have loved to attend.
 
Students at Pembrokeshire College also got involved in the campaign by holding their own wear a hat days and organising various events around the college. The 2nd year ND business studies students helped to organise the day and sold wear a hat badges and raffle tickets. Other courses that got involved were the FD health and social care, art and design and animal studies who all wore hats and entered a wear a hat competition on the day. Also, students from the college’s Army Preparation course did a sponsored 13 mile run around Llys y Fran Country Park in fancy dress and the college crèche got involved in the activities by making their own hats. In total over £650 pounds was raised from the wear a hat events at Pembrokeshire college.

Pupils at Marthy and Letterston primary schools also took part in their own wear a hat days and raised a fantastic £75 for the charity. A wear hat day also took place at Haverfordwest Leisure Centre on 25th March and hat badges were sold in various shops and businesses around the county.

On Saturday 26th March a raffle was held at the Paper Aeroplanes gig at the Queens Hall in Narberth and this raised an additional £100 for the charity.
 
The Throne Mason Trust is so pleased with all the support that was given for this campaign and in total raised over £1500 with donations still coming in. It is a fantastic campaign that has really helped to spread awareness of brain tumours in Pembrokeshire. Not may people are aware that it is the biggest cancer killer of children and people aged under 40. This is going to become an annual fundraising campaign for the Thorne Mason Trust and the charity are already planning next years wear a hat gig as well as looking for local organisations to take part and to hold their own wear a hat events next March.