Signed Tyson Fury boxing glove among auction items at launch party for Morecambe venue's new loyalty scheme

A chauffeur driven tour around the town in the late Eric Morecambe’s Rolls Royce and a signed Tyson Fury boxing glove will be auctioned on Monday December 9, at a launch party for the Friends Of The Platform Morecambe’s new Loyalty & Reward Programme.

Anyone interested in supporting the Friends can attend the free party, which begins at 7pm.

The evening will be hosted by local broadcaster Mike Stevens and will also be attended by Lancaster mayor Coun Abi Mills, who will speak about the Friends, the new Loyalty & Reward Programme and The Platform, which is owned by Lancaster City Council.

The Friends were established in May after Sue Saunders, now the secretary, organised a petition and spoke at a city council meeting to save The Platform from closure.

Her campaign succeeded with the council reversing its decision on the proviso that The Platform must stand on its own financially in the future and that a Friends group be formed to promote the venue, increase awareness, and raise funds unavailable to the council to enhance and improve the building.

The Loyalty & Reward Programme aims to raise money for the Friends, who can then apply for grants to help ensure the future of The Platform.

For £5 a month, those who sign up will receive one free ticket annually up to the value of £30 for a Platform production, a 10% discount on their own drinks at the bar, advance bookings and early admissions to events, invitations to exclusive programme launches, members’ coffee mornings, monthly newsletters and invitations to attend bi-monthly member general meetings.

It’s hoped that the Loyalty & Reward Programme will help to boost bookings for The Platform and produce more ambassadors for the venue, which first opened as a railway station in 1907.

Friends chair David Morgan said: “The Loyalty & Reward Programme is quite an innovative concept for this kind of venue.”

“The benefits that we have been able to negotiate with The Platform are such that members can actually get their money back in full during the year which I think is a first for any such scheme.”

Eric Morecambe would have known the station well and the chauffeur driven trip around his hometown, which is one of the items to be auctioned at the party, will visit several places where he lived and the first theatre where he performed before finishing with afternoon tea at the Midland Hotel.

Morecambe-based world boxing champion Tyson Fury is also lending a hand – or should that be glove – to the Friends fundraising efforts as he has donated one of his boxing gloves signed and dated this year.

The third item to be auctioned will be a Lindisfarne T-shirt signed by the band, who recently performed at The Platform.

For more information, visit https://www.friendsoftheplatformmorecambe.uk/