Organising the HMBA Charity Race Night – Bringing the Hartlepool Masonic Hall to Life

 

At the weekend, something rather special happened inside the Masonic Hall in Hartlepool.

After weeks of planning, organising, designing, promoting, emailing, posting, recording, printing, coordinating, stressing, and occasionally wondering whether I’d completely lost the plot… the HMBA Charity Race Night finally took place.

And honestly?

It was absolutely brilliant.

Over 100 people attended the event, the atmosphere throughout the evening was fantastic, and together we raised an incredible £1,112.96 profit for charity through the Hartlepool Masonic Benevolent Association (HMBA).

For many people attending, this was their first visit inside the Masonic Hall. That alone made the evening feel important.

But for me personally, the event became much more than simply organising a race night.

It became a real test of creativity, marketing, organisation, communication, leadership, and community engagement - all within a five-week window.

Starting With an Idea

The original idea behind the event was simple:
Create a fun evening that would:

• Raise money for charity
• Bring people together
• Promote HMBA
• Showcase the Masonic Hall
• And help open Freemasonry further into the community

Once the date was confirmed, everything suddenly became very real very quickly.

Unlike most large events, where organisers may have several months to prepare, we had around five weeks to:

• Create the branding
• Design posters
• Set up ticketing
• Launch social media
• Build a Facebook page
• Write press releases
• Contact newspapers and radio stations
• Coordinate Lodges
• Organise tables and seating
• Create race cards
• Record radio adverts
• Produce promotional videos
• Arrange catering
• Prepare betting systems
• And somehow hold everything together without descending into complete chaos

Thankfully, I absolutely love this sort of thing.

Building the Promotion Campaign

One of the most enjoyable parts of the process was creating the promotional campaign around the event.

I wanted the evening to feel energetic, welcoming, community-focused, and modern. That meant creating a mixture of:

• Posters
• Facebook content
• Press releases
• Radio adverts
• Promotional videos
• Website articles
• WhatsApp promotions
• Photography
• QR codes
• Ticket systems
• And social media engagement posts

We also launched the new Hartlepool Freemasons Facebook page alongside the event, which gave us a platform to continue promoting future events and charitable work moving forward.

One thing became very clear very quickly:
You cannot simply post once online and hope people magically appear.

Successful promotion requires momentum.

Different audiences required different approaches:

• Lodge members
• The wider public
• Local newspapers
• Radio stations
• Community groups
• Potential future Freemasons
• And local charities

Each required slightly different messaging while still maintaining the same overall goal:
Create a welcoming event people wanted to attend.

The Power of Community

One of the biggest lessons from the event was the importance of teamwork and community support.

People shared posts.
Lodges promoted the event.
Volunteers stepped forward.
Local organisations helped spread the word.
People donated raffle prizes.
Others simply encouraged and supported the idea.

By the time the event arrived, it genuinely felt like something the wider community wanted to succeed.

That feeling inside the Hall on the evening itself was incredible.

The room was full.
People were laughing.
The races were chaotic in the best possible way.
The betting booth stayed busy.
The bar was lively.
People who had never visited the Hall before were enjoying themselves alongside long-standing Freemasons.

That was exactly the atmosphere we hoped to create.

Hosting the Evening

I’ll be honest - I was nervous before the event started.

Once over 100 tickets had been sold, the reality of actually hosting the evening properly suddenly hit me.

But as soon as the room filled up and the first race started, the nerves quickly turned into adrenaline.

Thankfully, the evening flowed naturally after that. HMBA's Treasure, a lovely person called Jamie, picked up the microphone and announced each event and results. As soon as he starting welcoming people I felt at ease.

One of the biggest successes of the night was the energy in the room. Every successful event needs people willing to create excitement and atmosphere, and thankfully we had exactly that.

The race names and horse names also added a huge amount of humour to the evening. Hearing people enthusiastically cheering for horses with ridiculous names is apparently something I can now officially add to my list of life experiences.

More Than Just a Fundraiser

Although raising money for charity was obviously the main objective, the evening achieved something much bigger.

It helped:

• Promote HMBA
• Showcase the Masonic Hall
• Improve public awareness of Freemasonry
• Build community relationships
• Create future opportunities
• And prove that events like this absolutely can work

For me personally, it also reinforced something important:
I genuinely enjoy creating things that bring people together.

Whether that’s websites, events, media projects, music, videos, storytelling, or community initiatives, I enjoy building things that create positive experiences for others.

Looking Ahead

One of the most important things to come from the event is that we now have a proper framework for how to promote and run future events.

We documented:

• Promotion strategies
• Media contacts
• Social media schedules
• Press release structures
• Content plans
• Event operations
• Photography requirements
• And post-event follow-up processes

That means the next event will start from experience rather than guesswork.

And perhaps most importantly, this feels like only the beginning.

The Hartlepool Freemasons social media pages are now active, the website continues to grow, and plans are already forming for future events and community projects.

If the Charity Race Night proved anything, it’s that when good people come together with energy, positivity, and a shared goal, amazing things can happen.

And honestly?

I cannot wait to do it all again.

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