PEOPLE flocked to the TeamLuke Foundation Family Fun Day, a charity fundraising event. The event took place in May 2025 at Darlington Rugby Club.
The TeamLuke Foundation was setup in memory of Luke Bell. Luke was just eight years old when he died of high-risk neuroblastoma on the December 23, 2018. The charity was established in his name with the goal of raising awareness and funds for research to prevent other families from suffering the same tragedy.
Hubspoke Media were commissioned by the TeamLuke Foundation to support the marketing of their family fun day event. The event was raising funds for the TeamLuke Foundation, to tackle neuroblastoma, an aggressive cancer that usually occurs in children. Neuroblastoma comprises of 6% of all childhood cancer cases in the UK, resulting in 95 diagnoses each year.
“The aspirations were significant because there was quite a bit of money outlaid for the event,” said Mark Bell, chairman of the TeamLuke Foundation. “We knew we had to hit decent numbers. To be honest, Hubspoke were incredible from day one. We are very inexperienced at running these kinds of events.
“Our boxing day event kind of looks after itself. The Family Fun Day was to have a very different feel about it. And we were reaching new audiences or attempting to. Hubspoke provided knowledge, support and offered suggestions. They suggested we ticket the event and look at the promotion locally to raise awareness and expand the event.”
The family fun day was a a success with over 1,000 visitors come to the event on the day and visitors got to enjoy, giant inflatables, food vendors, live music and charity rugby matches on the day. The event was supported by local sponsors and the local MP attended the event to see what it as all about.
“It was an absolute pleasure to be involved,” says Adam Walker, Hubspoke Media Director. “We wanted to get behind the event and the charity and stretch our marketing muscles to give it the best chance of success.
“The charity are doing incredible work in combatting neuroblastoma. They are a volunteer ran charity and have delivered some incredible projects such as funding a senior researcher at the Institute for Cancer Research.
“We supported the foundation with a suite of graphic design, photography and videography which was taken onto the foundation’s social media channels. We also sourced and arranged outdoor advertising to promote the event in the town centre.”
Mark said “The support on the day, having Hubspoke Media on site to help with the various bits of media that I was pulled into with the local MP and business leaders was really helpful. The help the foundation in navigating that as well as getting all the kind of photos of the actual event itself and some incredible drone footage of the site”
“Hubspoke Media bring a real kind of friendly and professional vibe to the party, really, personable, genuinely seem interested and engaged in what we do.”
Many were inspired by how Luke battled his illness. “Over the years people have been inspired by how Luke fought his illness. Luke was a very active kid himself and loved rugby, the roots of the foundation are in rugby. For us the bigger events that we organise will always involve an element of physical activity. We now have people volunteering to raise funds so their own challenges which some are particularly mad. This event allows us to come together and do a challenge together with something a bit different.
More information about the TeamLuke Foundation can be found at https://teamluke.org.uk along with their latest events, projects and news.