The Benevolent: ‘Thanks for Giving’ online silent auction on Thanksgiving Day (starts Thursday 24th November)

Dear Supporters,

As you may have heard, we are about to launch our Benevolent ‘Thanks for Giving’ online silent auction on Thanksgiving Day (next Thursday 24^th November) which will run for one week only and will hopefully raise valuable funds for The Benevolent – Your Drinks Industry Charity.  We have managed to obtain over 75 great auction lots and these can be viewed here - https://www.32auctions.com/thanksforgiving
The online silent auction will enable anyone in the trade as well as their friends and family members to bid for sought-after items that embrace amazing cultural experiences, luxury & rare wines and spirits, corporate hospitality and even whacky auction of promises, There are auction lots to suit every taste and budget. As this online auction is being held during the pre-Christmas shopping season, it will also represent the perfect opportunity for participants to find that special ‘one of a kind’ gift not normally available. There could be some real bargains to be had.  The more bidders, the more funds raised for members of the UK drinks industry in need.
Please can I ask you to spread the word amongst your work colleagues and even friends and family by forwarding the attached ‘launch flyer’, together with these details and please can you start looking at the items you may wish to bid for yourself.  To start bidding when the site goes ‘live’ on Thursday 24^th November at 9.00 am, you will just need to register your details on the site by clicking here - https://www.32auctions.com/users/new
Don’t forget the auction is only operating for one week starting at 9.00 am on ‘Thanksgiving Day’.  Please see that the launch ‘flyer’ is attached.
Thanks for helping to support The Benevolent.
With best wishes,
David
David Cox 

Chief Executive

The Benevolent   I  The Drinks Industry Charity

t 020 7089 3888  I  e david.cox@thebenevolent.org.uk  I  m 07974 228986

Tour de l'oc: Wine trade charity ride from Tain-l'Hermitage to Collioure via Le Ventoux

The Ventoux from Rasteau January 2006

The Drinks Business:

'The ride will begin on Monday 1 June when the cyclists head south from a start point at the M. Chapoutier winery in Tain l’Hermitage, finishing at Collioure near the Spanish border on Thursday the same week – and the challenge has been dubbed the Tour de L’Oc, after the ancient name for the region, Occitania.

Organised by Mentzendorff managing director Andrew Hawes, this is the ninth charity cycle ride led by the head of the UK wine importer for Bollinger Champagne, and probably the hardest. Taking in the punishing ascent of Mont Ventoux, the intrepid wine trade cyclists will have to climb the 1912 metre mountain, famous for its barren summit and high winds.'

'Importantly, the aim of the cycling challenge is to raise a target of £30,000 of vital funds for the drinks industry charity The Benevolent.'

Read the rest here.

The ten cyclists include Patrick Schmitt, the editor of The Drinks Business: 
 

Patrick Schmitt:
'For the first time in four years I’m bringing out my bicycle for more than the daily 10 kilometre trundle to work, and this time it’s for the toughest challenge I've ever entered. Starting in the northern Rhône in Tain-l'Hermitage on 1 June, and finishing four days later in the coastal town of Collioure, I’ll be covering around 500km across some of France’s most extreme terrain.

In particular, I’ll be climbing just short of 2,000m in a single ascent as the route includes Mount Ventoux – the hardest climb of the legendary Tour de France, and famous among biking fans for claiming the life of English cyclist Tom Simpson.
My preparation? A few rides round Richmond park. I’ve also bought some new rims for my bike, which is now almost 15 years old and dented and scratched like a beer keg.

Like the last long distance ride I attempted in 2011, this is a personal test, but it’s also for an extremely good cause, so once more I’ll be raising funds for The Benevolent – The Drinks Industry Charity. I urge you to visit their website to read more about their good work, but I should say here that it’s being brilliantly run by David Cox to really support the most needy in the drinks trade.

All that's left to say is thank you very much for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page and any donation would be hugely appreciated.'

https://www.justgiving.com/Patrick-Schmitt1

https://www.justgiving.com/Andrew-Hawes3/ 

https://www.justgiving.com/AlanMontagueDennis2015/https://www.justgiving.com/AlanMontagueDennis2015/

I hope the ride goes well. Certainly climbing Mont Ventoux, I assume from the Bedoin side, was the toughest climb I ever did. It's a long, steep unrelenting climb and likely to take some of them a good two hours. I trust, in addition, to buying new rims for his bike, Patrick has made sure that he has suitably low gears for the Ventoux.   

@The London Wine Trade Fair – Monday 18th May 2015

A massage Sir before the start of the Fair? Brett Crittenden relaxes!

The Benevolent Bus

 

The bus and the Benevolent Team headed by David Cox 

José Manuel Ortega tutoring the CWW O Fournier Master Class

Stephen Brook (above) and Steven Spurrier (below)

Ortega's 'godfathers'

Sarah Jayne Evans MW@CWW Master Class 

Colin Hampden-White 

Mathieu Fleuriet, Domaine Bernard Fleuriet, Sancerre

 Chanel and Denise Gitton, Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé

  Chanel Gitton

Pascal Gitton

 

Pascal Guilbaud, Guilbaud Frères (Muscadet)

 Aynard Clermont-Tonnerre, Touraine and Montlouis

Isabelle Clermont-Tonnerre, Touraine and Montlouis

 

On Our Bus – The Benevolent@The London Wine Fair

Details from The Benevolent:

'Originally used as a 29-seat passenger bus in Liverpool in the Swinging Sixties, The Benevolent Bus is now restored and converted to form a highly individual and charismatic meeting or hospitality space, ideal for business meetings, formal tastings or brand presentations. The interior has a meeting table seating 10 to 12 people which makes use of the original bench seating.

The Benevolent, the UK drink’s industry trade charity, will park the bus on Stand U54 at The LWF at Olympia. Visitors and exhibitors are invited to stop and chat about the charity’s ‘Here to Help’ campaign, as well as secure space for private meetings or tastings in return for a donation to the charity.'

It is really important for people in the UK wine trade to support The Benevolent as it can provide invaluable support elderly or ill members of the trade. Witness the very sad sorry of Richard Neill cruelly afflicted with Motor Neurone Disease in the prime of his life where The Benevolent has been able to provide substantial support. Details here.  

••• 

Details of the Benevolent's Pink Flamingo party 20th May 2015 on the Kensington Roof Gardens:

Tickets are priced at £60 per person and include everything guests will need to have a fantastic evening including a sumptuous BBQ, a premium selection of wines, beers and spirits and roving entertainers to delight and amuse. A limited number of VIP tickets will also be available at a cost of £75 per person and these will provide a variety of additional benefits including fast track VIP entry to the Roof Gardens, a glass of Champagne on arrival, a complimentary ticket for the Raffle and fast track queue for the BBQ.

In addition to enjoying delicious food and drink served within the picturesque three themed gardens above the London skyline, guests will also be able to vote for their choice of the ‘Best Dressed Male and Female’. Both winners will receive a special prize for their original and flamboyant interpretation of the ‘Pink Theme’ dress code so all attendees are invited to dress to impress. Guests will then be invited to dance the night away until the early hours accompanied by the Roof Gardens’ highly sought after resident DJ.

Guests are reminded that tickets must be bought in advance and will be unavailable for sale on the door.

All proceeds from the event will go directly towards helping vulnerable members of the trade who are suffering from serious illness, disability, financial hardship or experiencing a personal or family emergency.

Details.

Two items of news Vinderella and Le Lièvre Gourmand

Botrytis and Phylloxera dealing with Vinderella

Vinderella, the panto put on by the UK wine trade in January, raised £10,000 for The Benevolent – the wine trade charity. Further details here.

**

Le Lièvre Gourmand

The hare has hopped from Vailly-sur-Sauldre to Orléans and will reopen on Saturday 3rd April and is now taking bookings.

Contact details here: Le Lièvre Gourmand - 28 quai du Chatelet - 45000 ORLEANS - France -
Tél:(33)02.38.53.66.14 - contact@lelievregourmand.com

Vinderella: a few more panto pics

Poster for Vinderella

Sisterly love: Botrytis and Phylloxera dealing with Vinderella 

The Good Fairy

At the ball (above and below)

Curtain call

Curtain call: Phylloxera, Botrytis (faded) and Bouchon
 

Earlier panto pics here

Vinderella: UK drinks trade raising money for charity

Ugly sister – Botrytis: Charles Metcalfe

Wot a stunning pair of pins!

This evening saw the preview of the excellent Vinderella put on by the Benevolent and the Theatre of Wine. Full of wonderfully ridiculous jokes – my favourite was 'Amy Housewine', closely followed by the 'Katie Price Academy' – and great fun.

The other ugly sister – Phylloxera: Alastair Llewellyn-Smith

It's on for the next three nights – Thursday, Friday and Saturday – at the 300 seat John McIntosh Theatre at the London Oratory School, Seagrave Road SW6 – nearest tube is West Brompton. Tickets range from £10 - £35 and are available via the Benevolent - +44 (0)207 089 3888, or online at http://www.thebenevolent.org.uk/.

Mildew Pearce (TV Anchorwoman): Hannah Tovey

Eutypiose (Stepmother to Vinderella): Sarah Reed

Eutypiose with Lord Stirling (?): Walter Speller

Vinderella (Anna Noble) and Price Charmes Chambertin (Andrew Reed)

Phylloxera's shoe

Debby Collinson – best dressed member of the chorus in the 1st Act with a memorable shirt

Lord Adam Brett-Smith (Corney & Barrow) makes a brief but dashing cameo appearance

Daniel Illsley: writer and director (Theatre of Wine)

Botrytis surrounded by fans