Forget the excesses and consumerism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday - Tue 1 Dec, was #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving, and was the perfect antidote to the two biggest shopping days of the year.

This year Watershed took part for the very first time, and as a thank you to all of our ace supporters we are giving everyone who donates £5 or more during December a chance to win a great prize: a private screening of a film of your choice for you and your family and friends. Read on for more details!

#GivingTuesday is a day dedicated to giving and giving thanks. It’s a day where everyone from all over the world comes together to give time or donations to the causes closest to their hearts, and to share good stories. What’s not to love? Watershed is a registered charity and on that day we celebrated and encouraged giving in all of its forms.

Supporting Watershed means we can continue our work. It means, in a particularly uncertain time for public funding, we will continue to exist in the future, and it means we have the freedom to develop new opportunities so that everyone can participate in the Watershed experience.

This, of course, includes young people, who are the focus of our fundraising for the coming year. We asked Jon, Yero, Sham and Tom, all young people who we have worked with and who have all directly benefitted from the support of our donors, to make a short film about what difference Watershed has made in their lives.

There was no brief, no script, no cheeky requests from us. They simply said how they felt. And the finished result? We’re not ashamed to say it brought a tear to our eyes. Watch it below and see what we mean.

So thank you – if you currently donate to Watershed or you’re thinking of doing it this month – we can’t exaggerate how much we appreciate it.

You’ve enabled people like Jon, Yero, Sham and Tom to find a voice, confidence, new skills, and a supportive community. You’ve brought countless British and foreign language independent films to the big screen. You’ve given our Playable City projects a life internationally. And you’ve made lots of people happy (and that’s just scratching the surface).

Here’s how you can get involved...

• Donate – set up a regular monthly donation or make a one-off donation
  It’s super simple and your donation can start at just £5. You can donate online (there are separate pages for the monthly and one-off options), in person via Box Office or over the phone on 0117 927 6444.

• Sponsor a Cinema Seat
  A brilliant way to support Watershed in addition to being a special Christmas gift, sponsoring a cinema seat is the ideal gift, commemoration or dedication. Pick a seat in any of our cinemas and decide on what message you’d like to have on your plaque – this is your chance to become part of the furniture.

• Book a cinema ticket and donate
  If you book a ticket for a film or event at Watershed in December you’ll be asked if you would like to give a small donation along with your purchase. It’s a great chance to get some feel good factor with your film fix!

• Share your Watershed story – make some noise!
  We love hearing your stories behind why you support Watershed and why you love us. Share your stories on social media and tag us!

As a huge thank you, anyone who donates £5 or more during December – be it via a monthly or one-off donation, sponsoring a cinema seat or adding a donation to your cinema booking – will have the chance to enter our prize draw* to win a private screening of a film of your choice for you and your family and friends in one of our cinemas.

So get thinking about what your ideal film might be and who you’d put on your guest list: the prize draw runs for the entire month so there’s plenty of time to donate and keep your fingers crossed. Good luck!

#GivingTuesday was just one day but our supporters have meant we can continue inspiring and engaging 365 days of the year. Thank you once again – and we’ll be in touch with the winner of the prize draw in January!

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