Last Thursday night we had our Charity Auction for India 2010 (See http://www.india-2010.co.uk/).
My colleague and I are joining the Enduro India event next January and February and are riding classic 1950's design 350cc Royal Enfield "Bullett" motorbikes 2,000 km through India.
With the state of the roads that we will be travelling over, many dirt tracks or stone tracks, this will be a real test of endurance - up to 16 hours a day in the saddle!!
However, as it is in aid of UNICEF, The Rainbow Trust and the Wildlife Conservation Society, this will all be worth it.
The Charity Auction itself was a wonderful event. We met at The Talbot in Ripley and over 85 people turned up - making the event a sell-out.
The meal (curry of course for an India trip!!) was served whilst Jules sang to entertain us. Jules is a West-end singer, having been in may productions including being the narrator in "Joseph" and having been in "Cats". Each song was strongly applauded and it set the whole evening up as a real extravaganza.
At this point it must be said that Alvin Stardust and Jules supplied and set-up the lighting and sound system ... a mark of a pair of real entertainers.
After the meal, we had a very moving talk and video from Sue Cocks of The Rainbow Trust. This wonderful charity provides essential family support work and doesn't often get the profile of some of the bigger charities.
Alvin Stardust then rose and showed his talents as a very amusing Auctioneer, both keeping everyone laughing whilst pulling on the heart-strings to get the best prices that he could for the Charities.
The evening was then completed with Alvin and Jules entertaining us with many great songs ... Including Alvin singing his "My Coo Ca Coo" ... with almost all of the audience joining in - whether dancing or not.
Overall, the Charity Auction raised over £5,500 ... far higher than our target of £3,000.
Our thanks go to Vicki Smith and Liz Smith who have worked tirelessly for 3 months to get everything organised and to encourage the wonderful donations for us to auction - and of course to Alvin Stardust and his wife, Jules, who were stars in every sense of the word.
My colleague and I are joining the Enduro India event next January and February and are riding classic 1950's design 350cc Royal Enfield "Bullett" motorbikes 2,000 km through India.
With the state of the roads that we will be travelling over, many dirt tracks or stone tracks, this will be a real test of endurance - up to 16 hours a day in the saddle!!However, as it is in aid of UNICEF, The Rainbow Trust and the Wildlife Conservation Society, this will all be worth it.
The Charity Auction itself was a wonderful event. We met at The Talbot in Ripley and over 85 people turned up - making the event a sell-out.
The meal (curry of course for an India trip!!) was served whilst Jules sang to entertain us. Jules is a West-end singer, having been in may productions including being the narrator in "Joseph" and having been in "Cats". Each song was strongly applauded and it set the whole evening up as a real extravaganza.
At this point it must be said that Alvin Stardust and Jules supplied and set-up the lighting and sound system ... a mark of a pair of real entertainers.
After the meal, we had a very moving talk and video from Sue Cocks of The Rainbow Trust. This wonderful charity provides essential family support work and doesn't often get the profile of some of the bigger charities.
Alvin Stardust then rose and showed his talents as a very amusing Auctioneer, both keeping everyone laughing whilst pulling on the heart-strings to get the best prices that he could for the Charities.
The evening was then completed with Alvin and Jules entertaining us with many great songs ... Including Alvin singing his "My Coo Ca Coo" ... with almost all of the audience joining in - whether dancing or not.Overall, the Charity Auction raised over £5,500 ... far higher than our target of £3,000.
Our thanks go to Vicki Smith and Liz Smith who have worked tirelessly for 3 months to get everything organised and to encourage the wonderful donations for us to auction - and of course to Alvin Stardust and his wife, Jules, who were stars in every sense of the word.
