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Charity Auction
Raises Over £44,000 for Trinity Hospice
By Kate Opekar, Deputy Editor
Spirits were high
as over 100 people gathered at Home House for a special cocktail reception and
charity auction co-hosted by Trinity Hospice, Ariadne Capital and Marquis Jet.
The event, organised by Ariadne Capital and Susan Dark,
was held to raise money for Trinity Hospice, UK’s oldest hospice specialising in
the provision of care for the terminally ill.
By the end of the evening, £44,360
had been raised for the Hospice.
An elegant cocktail reception was followed by a fast-paced auction conducted by
Bid-Up TV, featuring the entertaining Gerry McCullough as auctioneer. Among the
total 10 lots on offer there was truly something for everyone: handmade
bracelets and chokers by designer, Rosamund Randall; a 7-day stay in a luxury
apartment in Fish Hoek, Cape Town; a beautifully crafted Wempe Tahitian Black Pearl Necklace; and a round of golf with PGA professional and
winner of the 1988 European Masters, Chris Moody, at the exclusive Queenwood
Golf Club – to name but a few.
The highlight of the auction - a round-trip private jet flight to any
destination in France, including lunch at a restaurant of your choice
(generously donated by Marquis Jet) - commanded the highest bid
of the evening at £8,000. Also of note were two lots for direct
sponsorship of a Dietician post and of the Library at the Hospice,
both of which were generously responded to by the audience.
The evening was completed by a speech by Robert Hersov, Chief Executive Officer
and Co-Founder
of Marquis Jet Europe, on “Entrepreneurship after
Dot.coms”. Rob
is one of Europe's most experienced entrepreneurs and, until recently, the
founder and CEO of Sportal. His advice to those in the audience was clear: “if
you’re thinking about becoming an entrepreneur, do it now. Great fortunes are
made when you’re at the bottom of the cycle”. However, he also noted that
entrepreneurs need to be focused and committed to survive in such lean times.
“If you have a well thought-out proposition and believe in it you will be fine.
But there is a difference between being involved and being committed: if you’re
talking about an eggs and bacon breakfast, the chicken is involved and the pig
is committed”.
Overall, the evening was a great success in both raising much-needed funds for
the Hospice and bringing many influential members of the entrepreneurial
community together. Said Susan Dark, Trinity Trustee and Ariadne Capital
Investor Member, “These kind of events are vital to raise awareness of the
services provided by institutions like Trinity Hospice. Most people don’t
realise that the Hospice services an area with some 750,000 people both
North and South of the Thames – and has only 27% of its costs covered by the
government. Only the degree of goodwill that we witnessed tonight can help the
Hospice cover its annual overhead of £6 million to help its patients live life
to the fullest, right up to the time of dying.” When asked where the funds
raised at the auction will be used, she explained: “The monies raised this
evening will be used to cover the expenses for a full-time dietician post plus
help to sustain the depth and breadth of current services at the Hospice.
Without the money raised today, the dietician would only be able to come in once
a week, so we are delighted to have been able to make a discernable difference
in the quality of the lives of our patients through this one event.”
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