An Update

My husband reminded me the other day that I hadn’t updated on here since I held my ‘The Perfect Pair’ event on the 22nd April….so apologies – I sometimes forget that Facebook isn’t the only forum in which people follow me!

The event on the 22nd with Nickolls and Perks, and held at the Stone Manor in Kidderminster was an amazing success and I am really delighted to say, that thanks to the generosity of so many different people, companies and friends, we managed to raise over £9,300! This is a fantastic amount as we only had 60 guests there on the night so I had been hoping for more like £5k.

It was a really fun evening, and whilst I’m not sure that Tim and David, our wine connoisseurs for the evening, managed to talk that much to us all, everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves. I hope that it meant that now, a few more people up in the Midlands know a little bit more about myeloma, and at the same time, that money will be vital in terms of helping Myeloma UK to do their invaluable work.

What is also great, is that the total there meant that, with the help and support of family, friends and work, we have now raised over £116,000! In fact, we are just waiting to hear from another company who did the Myeloma UK London to Paris bike ride after reading my blog, and while they have already got that total up to £123,000, we are hoping that they might actually take us over the £125,000 total. In fact, we are probably there as I think there are a couple of events that have been popped down as a little less than we actually gave!

So, for the time being, I’m taking a bit of a break from the fundraising. We are hoping to move house over the summer so that is likely to take up much of my time. In addition, I’m looking more into my social media business and considering whether to keep it at just that or develop it into more of a ‘Virtual Assistant’ business. Lots to consider given my health situation so I need to give myself some time to focus on it all rather than keeping on making excuses as to why I can’t do it! In the meantime, if you need some help with Facebook but don’t want to pay £50 an hour for a guru, get in touch with me….in this day and age, we don’t need to live in the same area for me to be able to help!

(All that said, if anyone likes their whisky and wants to be kept up to date on a potential whisky fundraiser for 2018, let me know! )

Final Call

So I thought I’d do a final call on my blog for ‘The Perfect Pair‘, my wine tasting in aid of Myeloma UK…..just in case any of you haven’t been following me (aka avoiding me!) on Facebook.

I’m excited about this event, as it should be a lot of fun. It’s a wine tasting with Nickolls & Perks, (an independent wine merchant in Stourbridge), at Hogarths Stone Manor….a beautiful hotel in the West Midlands….the one where we got married in 2002! But it isn’t just that….we have a Prosecco reception to start, a five star Jazz musician playing in the background for our guests throughout the night, and then the wine tasting will be done alongside what will (nearly!) be a 3 course meal. I’ve popped the menu below as I think it looks lovely and I’m hoping if you’re still deciding whether to come or not, this might help!

But that isn’t all….we’ve also got a table magician, a photographer to grab some fantastic memories of the night and lastly, a fantastic auction with some really great ‘Money Can’t Buy’ auction lots – as well as some other great lots that have been donated but that might feel that little bit more affordable.

It’s taken a lot of work to organise this fundraiser as I’ve been without my previous ‘Glitz and Glamour’ team, but I know it will be another great evening. I’m still trying to sell the last few tables/ tickets so that we can raise as much money as is possible. So, if you fancy a good night out, why not come along. The hotel are even doing reduced rates for all of our guests that might be travelling that little bit further….or who just want to turn it into a night away!

I am especially grateful to Tim at Nickolls & Perks for helping with this event – he has not only agreed to do the wine tasting FOC, and to help keep the prices as low as he can get them from his suppliers (by writing to them all himself), but he has also been an amazing sounding board for me, has found me the musician, and generally listened to me witter on constantly about the event! Oh…and he’s also been my proof reader (blame him for any typo’s 😉 )But seriously, he’s been great and since I genuinely love N&P, I really wanted to give him a more personal shout out.

So, any of you who have been procrastinating about buying tickets, PLEASE have a think about doing it now – we would love to see you there. And if you can’t come, but would like to make a donation, you can do this at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/theperfectpair or if it is a prize you would like to do this, please just message me.

And one final thing, I’m still looking for a printer – just to do our Event Programme (a maximum of 50 copies of a 16 page A5 document) and perhaps a couple of pull up banners. If anyone knows anyone who might do it FOC or at a low cost, please get in touch!

THE PERFECT PAIR menu

The Perfect Pair – in aid of Myeloma UK

Ok, so I’m boring everyone again…but it’s only till April and I really, really need some support with this event (The Perfect Pair) as it’s proving much harder than my Glitz and Glamour Ball and my 40B440 challenges! I know that is because so many of my friends and family have helped me so much over the last 7 years, but I’m hoping this can be a final push…it is definitely the last big event that I will be holding…. I promise!

So what is ‘The Perfect Pair’? Well you can find the full details looking at my website above (very proud that I managed this all by myself!), but basically it is a food and wine pairing and a chance for people to get together with a table of friends and have a nice evening, whilst raising money for Myeloma UK. The charity will get a small amount from each table sold (£100) and then I hope that we can raise some money via the Silent Auction we will be holding….so you won’t even be pestered much on the night with that…always a bonus!

But to do the auction well, I need some really good prizes and this is where I’m calling out to people. Whilst the event is in the Midlands, the auction prizes can be ‘experiences’ anywhere, or of course ‘items’ too. So it doesn’t matter where you are reading this….you may be able to help! Whether it is a bottle of wine, a meal out, theatre tickets or even the use of a holiday home, everything is really helpful. And I am very happy to put reserves and T’s&C’s on anything that is donated too! And if you can’t help yourselves but know people who might be able to, please let me know…as you might have gathered, I’m not shy about asking and am prepared to pretty much sell my soul this time round!

I think I mentioned on a previous post that I wrote about what I’m looking for help with apart from prizes. I’d love to have a PHOTOGRAPHER on the night to take photos….and I’m happy to share the proceeds of that with them (get me!) if they would prefer that.

I’d also really like some LIVE MUSIC as people come in…either someone singing and playing say the guitar, or a 4 piece or something like that. And if they would like to stay and play later on that would be great too! So if you’d be interested or know someone who is, please let me know.

And finally, I’d like to find someone to help PRINT THE PROGRAMME for the night. It won’t be as big as the last one (I’ve learnt my lesson that those are pretty costly for the print company!), and I’ll try to keep it simple but great!

I also need to do the centrepieces but have an idea for that….if anyone has access to a florist who might donate a small number of flowers (I won’t need many), please let me know!

Anyway, I think that is the end of my begging email! I’ll obviously promote everyone who is able to support me so share away if you think you can help. And thank you…..again.

www.justgiving.com – raising money for Myeloma UK