Charity manager changes name to 161-word mouthful to raise funds

11 May 2012 News

The manager formerly known as Dawn McManus of youth creativity charity Red Dreams has changed her name to incorporate all of the bands and individuals currently supported by the charity in a bid to raise funds.

Dawn "Red (seventy seven names) Dreams" McManus with son Kyle, whose death inspired the charity's creation, and her husband

The manager formerly known as Dawn McManus of youth creativity charity Red Dreams has changed her name to incorporate all of the bands and individuals currently supported by the charity in a bid to raise funds.

After raising an initial target of £500 through her 'Money for my Moniker' JustGiving page, McManus used the legal deed poll service to change her name to incorporate the name of the charity and that of 77 supported groups and individuals. It is now 161-words long.

Her new name is: Red Wacky League Antlez Broke the Stereo Neon Tide Bring Back Honesty Coalition Feedback Hand of Aces Keep Going Captain Let’s Pretend Lost State of Dance Paper Taxis Lunar Road Up! Down! Strange! All & I Neon Sheep Eve Hornby Faye Bradley AJ Wilde Michael Rice Dion Watts Matthew Appleyard John Ashurst Lauren Swales Zoe Angus Jaspreet Singh Emma Matthews Nicola Brown Leanne Pickering Victoria Davies Rachel Burnside Gil Parker Freya Watson Alisha Watts James Pearson Jacob SotheranDarley Beth Lowery Jasmine Hewitt Chloe Gibson Molly Farquhar Lewis Murphy Abbie Coulson Nick Davies Harvey Parker Kyran Williamson Michael Anderson Bethany Murray Sophie Hamilton Amy Wilkins Emma Simpson Liam Wales Jacob Bartram Alex Hooks Rebecca Miller Caitlin Miller Sean McCloskey Dominic Parker Abbey Sharpe Elena Larkin Rebecca Simpson Nick Dixon Abbie Farrelly Liam Grieves Casey Smith Liam Downing Ben Wignall Elizabeth Hann Danielle Walker Lauren Glen James Johnson Ben Ervine Kate Burton James Hudson Daniel Mayes Matthew Kitching Josh Bennett Evolution Dreams.

The current total of donations on the JustGiving sponsorship page stands at £1,125 from just 16 donations. 

"The more money that keeps coming in, the longer I will keep the name," she told civilsociety.co.uk. "Everybody asks me 'how will you fit the name on your passport and driving licence?' That is something to deal with if and when the time arises, but I will hopefully be able to abbreviate it to 'Red (seventy seven names) Dreams'."

Red, as she is now known, set up the Hartlepool-based charity following the death of her son Kyle in 2007, who suffered a fatal brain haemorrhage at the age of 16. The Red Dreams charity supports 11 to 19-year-olds through mentoring and coaching.

"Kyle was extremely creative, an actor, musician, artist and much more," said Red. "Red Dreams was born to support and mentor other creatively talented young people, the way we would have supported Kyle. We very quickly realised how many young people wanted to be involved, and now have a long waiting list.

"We are all volunteers and rely heavily on grants and funding. With the desperate need to expand we have to come up with weird and wonderful ways to fundraise," she said, advising that the name change was an "homage" to the commitment shown by the young creatives. 

If you would like to offer support to Red Dreams, go to the JustGiving page by clicking here.