With social distancing still causing issues for Charity fundraising across the world, the team at Red Herring Games, one of the UK’s leading murder mystery events firms have been using their Covid-19 Lockdown experience as a force for good by raising money for worthy causes through virtual events.
Their first charity event in early August was hailed a success by the firm and the charities they supported, bringing in over £1000 in revenue split between 8 different charities, many of whom have already re-booked for the next event.
“It’s a win:win:win.” said Jo Smedley. “Our actors get paid doing something they love, Charities are able to raise money without any massive overheads, and the audience get to enjoy a fabulous socially distanced show while raising money for charities they want to support.”
During the worst of the outbreak, managing director Jo Smedley undertook a series of events to help raise money for the out of work actors associated with the firm, and over the space of 12 weeks generated a following at the murder mystery shows which were held via zoom.
“It’s been a steep learning curve” Jo said. “We had no idea whether it would work when we started out. No one had run murder mystery events in this way virtually before and no one knew if it would be of interest to the general public.”
But it seems the hard work paid off, as the firm continues to go from strength to strength virtually with clients across the globe.
“These charity events are our way of giving back.” Jo said. “Our actors and customers supported us throughout Lockdown, and we’re now in a position to pay that forward.”
The team at Red Herring Games, are busy planning their next charity fundraiser – this time with two brand new zoom scripts written specifically for Halloween.
“Trick or Treating will be problematic this year for many families.” Jo Smedley said. “So we wanted to provide a kids show as well which families would enjoy during the early evening to take the place of the traditional trick or treating.”
With a big customer based in the USA, Red Herring Games are also planning to run a repeat USA East Coast timed show on the same night. "Although our last show wasn't really timed well for the USA audience, we still had one charity that joined us for the event who were able to raise $250 for Alzheimer's support," Jo said. "We wanted to ensure other charity groups in the USA could benefit this time, and so we're repeating the performance in the early hours of the morning with the same actors."
Tickets will be on sale to both events from September through various charity groups across the UK and USA.
