Sir Norman Wrassle
In a surprise move, the Tripe Marketing Board has increased the stakes in its bid to raise as much money as possible for Kath’s Place, the Deptford-based community hub and food bank that is appealing for emergency funding in the run-up to Christmas.
From today, the TMB will donate the sum of £2 for every single copy of any of its books sold on Amazon to the Kath’s Place Appeal, until the end of November 2022. This doubles the original offer of £1 per copy in the campaign’s first week, which was focused on just two books published by the TMB.
Announcing the decision, TMB Chairman Sir Norman Wrassle said: “In the first week of our campaign, generous supporters have raised a total of £454 by buying our books. It’s a goodly sum and a great start, but Kath’s Place needs more than that to keep its doors open and pay the ever-increasing energy bills they face – at a time when demand has never been greater. That’s why our board has authorised what we term the ‘nuclear option’. After the first week we’ve covered the limited promotional costs we’ve had and so it makes sense to up the donations.”
The strategy was first tested in 2020 when the TMB and its supporters raised over £2500 for the MS Society.
Sir Norman said that the TMB had reduced the price of all of its books on Amazon to help make the option even more apealling – with the exception of The Lost Films of 20th Century Spatchcock, as technical reasons made the reduction difficult. Nevertheless, the book’s author Dr Derek J Ripley had decided to make his own contribution of £1 for every copy bought during the offer period, and the TMB would make the same £2 donation as with its other books. Dr Ripley, who is holidaying in his camper van in Scotland, said he didn’t think it would cost him much as the book hardly ever sells.
Sir Norman also advised that, while Amazon themselves had reduced two of the TMB’s books to “giveaway prices”, this was a particularly effective way to generate donations to Kath’s Place. “If someone were to buy a copy of Forgotten Yorkshire and a copy of our 2021 Diary at a cost to themselves of £2.86, we would donate £4 to the Appeal. If they were feeling particularly generous and bought 3 copies of each (the maximum allowed per week while the Amazon reduction continues) then we’d donate £12,” he said.
Sir Norman stressed that it didn’t matter whether someone had previously purchased copies of the book. While the offer was open, a further order could be placed 7 days afterwards, and any other of our books dropped into the trolley would generate another £2 each donation. Surplus copies could be gifted to charity shops, hospices and libraries, so that the precious gift of laughter could be spread.
He went on to add, “Tripe Means Business! We’d genuinely like to raise as much as possible for Kath’s Place in the short time available while this offer is still on, so all help is much appreciated!”