Great British Brekkie

Some 20 days ago Adrian Malpass, founder of the Glosbiz™ movement and local deejay, met with John Hanna the General Manager at Ellenborough Park to explore the possibility of hosting a charity event. Ellenborough Park is a restored 5 star Country House Hotel situated on the original Cheltenham Racecourse estate and is the perfect rural venue for wedding events, conferences or just a quiet get-aways to the English countryside.

The event was held in aid of Winston’s Wish a charity that helps children through bereavement after the loss of a parent or sibling, having lost my mother at an early age myself this was something I could most certainly relate to. During the Great British Brekkie week (18^th-24^th February) the aim is to raise £50,000 for the charity, so support from local business was a fantastic way to help reach the target allowing Winston’s Wish to support more bereaved children and their families.

Just 5 days later a number of tickets went on sale and inevitably sold out! Such was the demand from local Gloucestershire businesses that more tickets went on sale just days before the event and yet again were sold out in hours! And so the event was held today (20th Feb 2013). Some networking was done, a superb breakfast was consumed and a short presentation by Chloe Moorhead from Winston’s Wish was given.

It was time to draw the raffle! I was under strict orders to buy raffle tickets because the prizes were great! All donated by local businesses the prizes including afternoon tea at Ellenborough Park, tickets to the Cheltenham Cricket Festival, tickets to the Gloucester Rugby, food gifts and much much more! 55 businesses attended the event making further donations to win some of these fab prizes. RecommendedIn donated a ticket to each table and guess what… our table won a prize! Thanks to RecommendedIn 24 lucky people are entitled to a VIP Entry Pass to the Ministry of Paintball with all equipment hire, gun hire and a free lunch! How cool is that? So in the true spirit of charity and to give back to the local business community it was decided that all the delegates should have the opportunity to share this gift and an email will be sent out shortly to them all.

Over £500 was raised in just 90 minutes with contributions from over 50 local Gloucestershire businesses. A big thanks goes out to all the those involved and a special thanks to Ellenborough Park for the use of the amazing venue, Adrian for pulling things together on social media, all the businesses that attended and a huge thanks to Winston’s Wish for helping children rebuild their lives.

Winston’s Wish is a Registered Charity (England and Wales) 1061359, (Scotland) SC041140

Photography courtesy of David Savill Photography