Rossendale & Pendle Mountain Rescue: Charity Ball Trolley Coins
Hotline donated more than 200 printed recycled trolley coins for a black-tie ball in aid of Rossendale and Pendle...
Hotline donated more than 200 printed recycled trolley coins for a black-tie ball in aid of Rossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue, which raised £10,022.
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View allHotline Promotional Products donated more than 200 custom printed recycled plastic trolley coins for a black-tie charity ball in aid of Rossendale & Pendle Mountain Rescue Team, held at The Village Hotel in Bury on Saturday 18 October 2025. The ball drew 200 guests and raised £10,022, three times its target.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Client | Rossendale & Pendle Mountain Rescue Team, a volunteer mountain rescue service |
| Sector | Volunteer emergency services and community fundraising |
| Product | Custom printed recycled plastic trolley coins |
| How it was funded | Hotline sponsorship |
| Event | Black-tie charity ball, The Village Hotel, Bury, Saturday 18 October 2025. Organised by Georgina Nightingale and Claire Keane |
| Result | £10,022, three times the original target, and the largest single-event donation the rescue team has received |
Why the ball happened
Georgina Nightingale had an accident at the start of 2025, in a location remote enough that mountain rescue was needed.
Because of the remote location, the Rossendale & Pendle Mountain Rescue Team were one of the services that came to help me.
She and Claire Keane organised the ball afterwards. That is the whole reason the event existed, and it is worth stating plainly, because it explains why 200 people bought tickets and why the room gave three times what was expected.
Myself and Claire were completely overwhelmed and in awe of the support we received and the generous donations made.
Rossendale & Pendle Mountain Rescue Team is run by volunteers and funded by donations. The £10,022 was the largest single-event donation it has received.
This amount of money will be life-changing to so many. It will enable the team to continue their amazing volunteer work.
Why a trolley coin at a black-tie ball
A trolley coin is a small printed token that sits on a keyring and releases a supermarket trolley. It costs very little, it is not obviously a fundraising item, and it is one of the few branded things that stays on somebody's keys for years.
At a formal dinner that combination is unusually well suited, for three reasons.
It survives the outfit Guests at a black-tie event have no bag, no pockets to speak of and nowhere to put a mug. Anything larger than a coaster gets left on the table. A trolley coin goes in a clutch or a jacket pocket without anyone thinking about it.
It gets used, not displayed A keepsake that goes in a drawer has one good day. A trolley coin is in a hand at a supermarket most weeks, which for a rescue team that depends on local awareness is worth considerably more than a framed photograph would be.
It is small enough not to look like spending This matters at a charity event more than anywhere else. Guests who have just paid for a ticket and bid on an auction lot notice if the favour looks expensive, because they can work out whose money paid for it. An inexpensive, useful token reads as a thank you. A premium gift reads as an overhead.
The guests loved this personal touch.
What the extra coins were for
The order covered the 200 guests, and the additional coins were donated to the rescue team to use themselves.
That is the detail worth copying. Merchandise ordered for an event usually stops working the moment the event ends, and a leftover box in a cupboard is a wasted line in the budget. Coins in the team's own hands keep going: at open days, at collection points, as thank-yous to donors through the following year.
If you are ordering for a one-off fundraiser, work out what the organisation will do with the surplus before you decide the quantity, rather than after. The unit price falls as the quantity rises anyway, so the extra units are usually the cheapest part of the order and the part that keeps earning.
What a charity ball can actually raise
200 guests. £10,022. Three times the target.
Numbers like these are worth publishing because so few people do. If you are planning a fundraising dinner and trying to work out whether it is worth the effort, a real figure against a real headcount from a real venue is more useful than any amount of general advice.
Two caveats worth stating honestly. First, this event had an unusual driver: the person organising it had been rescued by the team that year, and the room knew it. Second, tripling a target usually means the target was cautious. Neither takes anything away from the result, and both are worth knowing before you build a budget on the same assumption.
Our guide to promotional products for charity events and fundraisers covers ordering on volunteer-run funds, and how to choose promotional products for an event covers matching a product to the format of the day. If you are running a seated fundraiser, our case study on branded pens at a Christmas charity luncheon covers the item that does a job during the evening rather than after it.
Every product page shows its own price at the quantity you enter, its minimum order and its guaranteed delivery date, before you speak to anyone. To see what is available, browse our keyrings and trolley coins or our charity and community merchandise.