Really nice evening last Wed, helping out Pam & Jude with their Autumn wine tasting, with part of proceeds in aid of the Guide Dogs.
They often have Simon and Hilary coming along, both of whom are completely blind, and who still manage to get to whichever venue the wine tasting is in, enjoy themselves to the full, manage not to let their dogs nick too much of the cheese and biscuits and charmingly send an email after each session to thank P&J and their team of helpers. What delightful people.
So P&J decided that the Autumn tasting would help raise some money for the Guide Dogs. Amazing how we arrive in an empty hall at 6pm, empty a van at full speed and in 45 minutes somehow manage to transform it into a Hannibal event. Below the 'before' (well, about 10 mins in.., Claire already manning her payment table) and the 'after'!
Hilary even got up on the podium with her dog to give a little speech about how valuable a dog is to her – she has had 7 in her lifetime, having been born blind. Each one costs I think it was £57k in their life to train and support, and the blind person is only asked to pay 50p, yes 50p, towards having one, to make sure that no-one is without a dog due to financial restraints. Simon is still however waiting for a new dog, as his last one was retired – and amazingly his dog was adopted by one of our hockey friends, who was at the wine do, and has promised to bring Rafi over to visit him soon. What a bizarre but rather lovely coincidence.
Some of the AV-ers kindly tipped up to help swell the coffers – lovely to see various groups of my chums mixing in with each other. Sophie delighted to see Sarah T and CG, who she has mentioned frequently since meeting them on my Hen Weekend many years ago!
And Mr H did well, considering he was feeling a bit ropey, and did look a touch grey beforehand – amazing what tasting the wares and a couple of pints in the pub can do afterwards to restore some manly oomph.
A v good night, with the raffle alone raising hundreds of pounds, so hoping that the extras raised will go some way towards a new puppy meeting their blind owner soon x