This exclusive drinks reception will take place at Movida’s re-launch on Wednesday 25^th April, and tickets will include canapes and unlimited champagne and cocktails. Signal Gallery will be showcasing some exclusive pieces throughout the evening.  Tickets are just £40, with half of all the proceeds going to War Child. This is sure to be a fantastic night, so don’t delay – buy tickets for you and a friend and take advantage of this incredible opportunity!

For more information or to purchase tickets, contact info@quintessentiallyfoundation.com.

William Curley has been voted Britain’s Best Chocolatier for the last 5 years and offers a delicious range of luxury Easter Eggs and gifts.  From beautiful couture chocolate Easter Eggs – filled with a delicious array of fillings including Caramalised Piedmont Hazelnuts, Sea Salt Caramels, House Milk and Dark Truffles to William Curley’s trio of mini Easter eggs – available in four varieties.

Or for something a little different from the usual Easter Egg gift, customers had the chance to treat a friend or family member to a chocolate making master-class, where guests make their very own chocolate delights, with a portion of the profits going toward Q Foundation.

To shop William Curley Easter eggs and master classes online or find their store locations, visit: http://www.williamcurley.co.uk/

The first speaker was Masterchef winner Thomasina Miers, who gave a brief talk about the work her restaurant Wahaca has been doing with their partner charity EDNICA. Since Wahaca is a Mexican-inspired restaurant, they felt it was important to give something back to the country from which they gained so much inspiration. This led them to a partnership with the UNESCO-backed charity EDNICA. Based in Mexico City, EDNICA works with children living on the streets to give them an education in nutrition, health, and technology. Wahaca does events throughout the year to support EDNICA’s work, as well as donating portions of special dishes to the charity. Thomasina and 12 of her staff recently visited EDNICA and were very inspired by the work being done to help the young people of Mexico City.

Following Thomasina was Judy Piatkus, founder of her own publishing company, Piaktus Books, who works with The Prince’s Trust as a donor and motivational speaker. Judy gave the crowd some insight into her background as an entreprenuer, as well as the strides that The Prince’s Trust is making through their work with young people across the UK. As an entrepreneur herself, Judy identified strongly with the mission of The Prince’s Trust to support young people and help them develop the necessary skills to succeed in life. Having just been to The Prince’s Trust Celebrate Success awards earlier that day, she could attest to the fantastic work being done by young people across the UK with the help of The Prince’s Trust and their numerous programmes.

After hearing the speakers, attendees were then invited out to the main room for a Q&A opportunity and to enjoy some delicious tequila refreshments, by Herradura Tequila. This was a great event that gave those invited the opportunity to hear from two exceptional speakers about the great work that their partner charities do.

To hear more or to attend our next Philanthropy talk please email info@quintessentiallyfoundation.org

This Mother’s Day, supporters of Quintessentially Foundation were able to treat their mother to the perfect bouquet and support a great cause at the same time!

Our friends at Quintessentially Flowers created a beautiful custom-made bouquet, with 10% of all sales going towards Quintessentially Foundation. The Shocking Pink and Raspberry Rose bouquet combined esperance roses, milano roses, and piano spray roses to create a beautifully vibrant arrangement that was undoubtedly a hit with all who received it! Not only was it the perfect gift, but customers got to support a great cause at the same time. In 2012 Quintessentially Foundation are supporting War Child, The Prince’s Trust, and Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres.

To order a bouquet, visit http://www.quintessentiallyflowers.com/

Remember the life sized colourful baby elephants that hit the streets of London last summer? Well the organisers came back for more this year – and this time in the shape of giant eggs!

London’s biggest ever egg hunt hit London’s street’s on Shrove Tuesday and was on display around the capital for 40 days and 40 nights during which The Big Egg Hunt, sponsored by Faberge, hid over 200 giant egg sculptures all around central London.

The stunning pieces of unique and extraordinary art captured the imagination of London; each one was finely created, designed and decorated by leading artists from around the world. Quintessentially is proud to have sponsored five of these beautiful eggs!

Each two and a half foot fibreglass egg made up twelve egg zones across London, and came together for The Grand Eggstravaganza on the Easter Weekend; people could view and bid on the entire collection by trekking the streets of London or online on here www.thebigegghunt.co.uk

A Golden Collection of 30 of the top eggs was sold live at auction on 20^th March, but online bidding for the eggs continued via the Egg Hunt website until April 9th. All proceeds from the auction went to the charities Elephant Family and Action for Children.

CHILDLINE ROCKS! THE HARLEY DAVIDSON RIDE OF A LIFETIME-IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID !

You are cordially invited to join this spectacular trip through BC, Montana, Wyoming and Utah. The ride encompasses some of the most stunning scenery the American Rockies have to offer. You will ride in the company of 2 great British rock bands-Thunder and The Union-and will culminate in a benefit concert in Utah. The ride includes the No 1 drive in the USA, the spectacular Beartooth Highway, and you can choose your preferred model of Harley. We will be riding through Hole in the Wall gang country- past Yellowstone, down through the Tetons, into the Wind River Range, down into Utah’s dinosaur country and finishing at the location of the Sundance Film Festival. The package includes bikes, flights and accommodation and riders are asked to raise a minimum of £1000 for Childline. There are also a small number of places available for car drivers. For those coming from London, dates are 8th July to 17th July inclusive.

Contact info@quintessentiallyfoundation.org for further details or to apply.

To check out last year’s ride visit www.childlinerocks.co.uk

Come on down!

When – 14th- 17th June

Where – London to St David’s Head

Fancy getting fit this summer for a good cause? Sign up to the Quintessentially Foundation Annual Bike Ride in aid of Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres.
This year we are hoping to make the bike ride a journey to remember for every cyclist by incorporating England’s most picturesque views through Oxford, The Cotswolds, and Wales, ending at St David’s Head. The bike ride will also entail evening entertainment from visiting Sudeley Castle, dining at top restaurants and stopping along the journey at Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres.
Quintessentially Foundation is looking to have 100 cyclists. With Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres recruiting 30 of their own cyclists, Quintessentially Foundation will only have 70 places left. With our large database from the past 3 years we would advise you to register early as places will go fast.
It will be a great way to get fit for the year ahead and to join the country by getting involved in activities as the Olympics is coming to London.
The target for the mere 300 mile bike ride is £300,000. Individually we would need each participant to raise £3,000. With just a few months to go it is the perfect time to register and start your training.

Contact emma@quintessentiallyfoundation.org for further details.

On Sunday 19^th February at Shepard’s Bush Empire an amazing line up headlined by Ed Sheeran and his special guests took to the stage to raise money for War Child.

The spectacular and emotive evening hosted by Radio 1 DJ Edith Bowman featured performances from new band Dry the River, Malian MOBO award nominee Fatoumata Diawara, Blur front men Damon Albarn and Graham Coxen and headline act Ed Sheeran.

The Surrey born four-time Brit award nominee stole the show with his 7-song one-hour set in which he ‘called in a few favours’ from some extra special guests including Example, Labrinth and Wretch 35.

War Child are on track to raise £100,000 from the evening which will go to help vulnerable children from the brutal effects of war.

The Reading Room team in Zambia works hard to select the most appropriate and engaging reading materials to stock the libraries. The Zambia team purchases local language and English books from retailers and publishers in Zambia, in addition to receiving English books through our global English book donation system. The majority of the books Room to Read provide are in English, because children in Zambia are taught English starting in Grade 2. Room to Read has provided 934 English books and other resources to this library.

Kapungwe Basic School library will receive three full years of additional support from Room to Read, which will include approximately 1,000 new books and regular monitoring visits. These visits will assess the library and provide continued support to the librarian and teachers, to ensure the library provides many years of reading enjoyment for the students.

Your investment in our work has helped Quintessentially Foundation achieve our ambitious goals and has encouraged us to continue to think big as we plan for the year ahead. Room to Read would like to say a huge thank you for your partnership as we work together to promote literacy and gender equality in education, giving more children the opportunities they deserve. Quintessentially Foundation’s investment has provided a tremendous gift to this community that will be used by hundreds of children over the years ahead.

This year’s very special Quintessentially Foundation Christmas Charity auction features a host of luxury and ‘money can’t buy’ items. To name a few; a Gucci handbag, a Hermes Birkin Bag, a Daylesford luxury hamper, an Alice Temperley Limited Edition One-off Dress and five star hotel stays around the world. This online auction is the perfect place to find an exciting and unique Christmas gift for family or friends.
The auction is raising much needed money for Room to Read, a charity which seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in developing countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education (www.roomtoread.org).

Visit http://www.quintessentially.com/auction/ to view and bid for the fantastic selection of auction lots. Happy bidding!

The format of the evening catered for poker lovers and their guests, with one hundred and seventy one players taking their seats alongside A-List faces for a Texas Hold’em tournament, while a drinks and canapés reception continued alongside the game for one hundred other attendees. Star players included David Walliams, Grace Woodward, Ben Elliot, John McCririck, Tom Parker-Bowles, Michael Vaughan and Jimmy Anderson.

Sebastian Lee was the tournament winner taking home the African safari Holiday by Mantis Collection, and runner up John Brink winning the Marcus Wareing cook at your home experience.

The event showcased Quintessentially Foundation alongside some of the most luxurious and exclusive brands in the world, and we have received extensive media coverage from London’s Evening Standard, Grazia, The Financial Times How to Spend it magazine and The Daily Mail.

This year’s Poker event fundraising is going to SOS Children, towards their current projects in Chipata Zambia to give children the love and care they require through Family Strengthening Programmes. Thank you to everyone that attended and supported the event. We hope to see you all next year for more gambling for good causes.

After a short summer break over August the Quintessentially Foundation autumn fundraising kicked off with the Royal Parks Half Marathon, a scenic 13mile run through London’s most beautiful parks.   We are happy to report that all fundraisers completed the race safe and sound, though maybe a little sore…and some a little wet!  Well Done to Will Stafford, Billy Keates and James Collins for running.

We are still collecting donations for this event so if you would like to donate please see the our Facebook page for more details on the runners and how to get involved.

Pro Dono specialises in organising one-to-one experiences with well-known famous figures – for those interested in business, it might be a visit to Guernsey with Terra Firma’s Guy Hands; for a gastronome, a cookery lesson with Raymond Blanc; for a cricket fan, perhaps afternoon tea at Lord’s with Geoffrey Boycott?

And here’s the best part – it’s all in aid of charity. You suggest a donation to go to the celebrity’s chosen charity. Pro Dono has over 90 celebrity supporters raising money for over 75 causes.What’s more, Pro Dono offers a fully professional service, organising everything from venue reservations to transport arrangements.With the opportunity to meet one of your heroes and the added bonus of giving to charity, what’s not to like?

Head to www.prodono.co.uk to find out more, or contact Chloe at chloe.musgrave@quintessentiallyfoundation.org.

The money raised has been donated to The Place2Be. The Place2Be works inside schools to improve the emotional wellbeing of children, their families and the whole school community. The Place2Be’s counseling services reach over 58,000 children in 172 schools in some of the UK’s toughest neighborhoods.

Thank you to all 54 cyclists that took part in the London to Edinburgh bike ride. We hope you all enjoyed it the event and we would love for you to take part in 2012.

Here one of our cyclists’ recalls his experiences on the London to Edinburgh bike ride:

Day 1 – London to Peterborough (94 miles)

The day started early in the car park of Alexandra Palace in North London. There was a cold wind from the north so, after extended greetings of people we met last year, and the briefing from the marshals, so all 52 starters were glad to set off at 7.30am.

We wound our way through the suburbs of London but within 10 miles we were in the countryside and people settled into their respective pace and spread out – a pattern of 2 hours between front and back group that was to maintain throughout the event.

There were a few early hills through London but the terrain flattened out and the full force of the cold, north wind that was to dog us for the whole trip became apparent.

When you’re on a bike and the wind is blowing against you, it feels like you would stop dead if you stopped pedalling.  It was also so cold that the joints ached constantly – for me, the knees (until Dr Nurofen made a welcome appearance around lunchtime).

We pulled into our hotel outside Peterborough at about 3.30pm.  A crew of masseurs were on hand to remedy tired legs and shoulders (the cheapest and best of the trip at £15 for a half hour).  Peter, also from Bermuda, pushed along with the lead group to finish amongst the first in difficult conditions.  He was accompanied by Ian from Scotland and two other fit-looking tri-athletes who made it a mission to be first each day (they were).

Slept well.

Day 2 – Peterborough to Scunthorpe (96 miles)

The organisers issued maps and elevation profiles each morning.  The weather forecast was as bleak as the day before, and the terrain expected to be similar (flat – and therefore wind exposed).

The first 10 miles were on the Peterborough ring road, with large trucks thundering past.  Although not pleasant, it did get the legs (and in my case, sore knees) warmed up pretty quickly.  We formed pace lines – single file, alternating at the front – to keep as much speed up as possible in the ferocious, cold wind.  Oh, and the rain….

We all battled driving rain, with the strong winds, from mid-morning onwards, arriving very tired at the hotel outside Scunthorpe at around 3.30pm.  Thanks to Mike for alternating the drafting during the day – mate, you have to get rid of the purple parachute on your back pretending to be a rain jacket – it will be so much easier for you!

Dinner was a quiet affair, with much comment about the dismal weather so far and fear of worse to come.

Slept fitfully.

Day 3 – Scunthorpe to Middlesborough (100 miles)

The elevation profile for day 3 showed 3 large climbs (3-400m bottom to top, so hardly alpine – but painful all the same).

These rides (at least for me) are punctuated by the hills – the dread of what’s ahead and then the relief of getting to the top of each one.  At this stage, too, I was worried about pulling something before challenges to come (day 4 – see below).  As fellow riders we spent time at breakfast and in the breaks checking the map and looking at the map in trepidation.

On the ride itself, most of that was forgotten, as the scenery (and weather) improved dramatically.  After 18 miles and a dull start (on all fronts), we crossed the Humber on a bridge which still impresses half a century after it was built – it takes quite a few minutes to cross and we were not hanging around.

After the Humber Bridge we stopped to regroup and the sun came out for a group photo and stayed out for the whole day, so for once the weather was not as bad as forecast.  The landscape from here on was stunning and if you were ever thinking of doing a ride/walk/tour, I would recommend starting from here and working upwards.

Lunch was at 65 miles, after 3 big hills in the East Yorkshire moors.  The ride after lunch included an “oh sh*t” moment going down a steep, winding hill in the woods, when I had to use all of the road at 35mph to make a corner; thank God no-one was coming the other way.

Before finishing the day, we did the biggest climb of the trip so far – in the North York Moors National Park.  I started off strongly from the last water break and, thinking I was spoiling for a fight, a young blade (Justin) chased me up the hill.  I was totally spent by the top, in the face of a horrible head wind, so I ended up drafting behind the poor chap for the last 15 miles to the hotel – I bought him a beer for his trouble that night.  Scenery was impressive but I was just too pooped to appreciate it.

After a rest however we watched the highlights of one of the best Tour de France stages on record – Cadel Evans looking in good shape for the yellow jersey.

The “ice cream sundae” was particularly memorable – a huge blob of bright yellow and brown that I’m no doubt had never seen chocolate, vanilla or cream.

Again, not a great night’s sleep, thinking about the “big day” tomorrow.

Day 4 – Middlesborough to Alnwick (100 miles)

The map / profile of the day’s ride was handed out at breakfast…..oh dear!  It looked like the mouth of Jaws – up and down in sharp points.  It was difficult to discern the exact number of teeth but 8 – 10 seemed to be the consensus.

My mental approach was to get to lunch at over half way (60 miles) – with 5 of the major climbs done, and only then think about the home stretch.

In the event, I had a good run in to lunch.  I caught a group on one of the hills, including Justin from the day before, and we had a marvelous “race” down the other side through some lovely woods and undulations.  Got up to 45mph on one of the downhill stretches – trying to avoid thinking about being on 23mm tyres and brake pads that are about 3cm x 1cm.

However, at lunch my body reminded me how old I was and I just couldn’t get up to rejoin that group.  I joined my regular group and we moved almost immediately to the next set of hills.

On the worst bits, I was riding with Chris, and we encouraged each other up each steep section, and freewheeled down the other side.  At the last water stop, the marshall assured us there was one big hill and then it was “undulating” from there ’til home.

At 95 miles – after some killer hills – we hit the top of the “last” hill, and pedaled as hard as we could down the mountain, thinking we were heading into the village where we were staying over night.  But no – one last unpleasant surprise awaited us – a 17% hill in 2x 200m sections.  There wasn’t one part of my body that wasn’t aching at this stage, and I was so glad to finish at the very nice hotel in Alnwick, with fantastic staff (Gary, the maitre d’, put up with some severe stick).

That was at 4.30pm.  The last group arrived as we were having dinner at 8.30pm.

The scenery and weather, though just as windy as ever against us, had been breathtaking.  In all, we had climbed 7,500 ft that day.

Having had poor sleep for a couple of nights, I took up the offer of a sleeping pill to help me rest.  I woke up in the night wanting the bathroom and felt so wobbly I walked into the toilet door.  Maybe a half dose next time.

Day 5 – Alnwick to Edinburgh (82 miles)

To be honest, my legs (knees in particular) were all but done by now and I sincerely hoped it would be a nice cruise into Edinburgh on the final day.

Things looked good as we crossed the Tweed at the beautiful Coldstream and the sun came out after a cold and windy start.

The biggest hill of the whole ride was before lunch (at 65 miles again).  It didn’t disappoint – 5k of climbing against the wind and then (it seemed to me) a near vertical 300m one pedal stroke at a time.

This was a proper hill – in the lowest gear I had, out of the saddle, and grinding onwards and upwards, hearing each breath and willing myself to take the next downstroke (sorry to be so dramatic, but that’s how it was).

I took a rest at the top, overlooking a wind farm (beautiful, but inefficient, I was told by an engineer coming the other way) and then took some photos of my team mates coming up the hill.  We all then free-wheeled down some hairy, gravelly, cattle-gridded, roads to the lunch stop (the best of the trip).  The whiff of the finish was so close I had to have a pint of bitter shandy!

I now have to confess that, for the last 20 miles, all I wanted was the finish.  Sure, it was fantastic weather, and we were ambling along the beautiful beaches to the east of Edinburgh (never knew they had surf but there were some lovely rollers coming in).  But I was done for.  My a*se was complaining (despite having 2x sets of shorts as a special treat for the last day), my legs were shot and I just wanted to get to the end.

The finish line was underneath Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, the sun was blazing and thousands of people were there (not because of us, but because there’s only about 5 days a year like that in Scotland).  The final stretch had a surreal quality to it; there was an ice cream van, this bloke on a 12ft tall bike entertaining the crowd, people having picnics etc. and at the same time we were being asked to move ourselves and our bikes because we were “blocking traffic”. To my great relief, someone was on hand with cold beers at the finish line (thanks Rupert, Chris and Seb) to keep tempers under control.  Thanks also to Rufus who handed Drew and I an iced lolly as we crossed the line – small things really do count.

After some baggage dramas and a quick change in the cab (there wasn’t much to see after 5 days in the saddle), Drew and I managed to catch the 6.15pm to London.  I was left with a sense of pride after raising over $15k for charity, making some new friends, some fantastic memories and a pair of very sore legs.  472.5 miles, 20,000 ft of climbing (all in the last 3 days) and 1 tub of very much appreciated chamois (ie. a*se) cream.

I would like to say many, many thanks to my fellow riders named above and unnamed, for being such a good bunch, and sorry to those I was not able to speak enough with (Colleen, all the Tims and Ollies, Jake, George, the Met policemen etc).