Events Diary - By Invitation Only - Raising Funds for Cancer Charities
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Events Diary
Our next event is being held on Saturday the 8th March 2014 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Crawley, West Sussex
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2014 Ladies Lunch -
Saturday 8th March sees the 3rd Crowne Plaza Satellite, By Invitation Only Ladies Lunch.
From day one, we have shown our support of The Teenage Cancer Trust and Breast Cancer Care, and will continue to do so, however last year we also decided to sponsor a Medical Detection Dog. These dogs are trained to help people with life threatening health conditions, saving lives on a daily basis, and in our case, a puppy that can advance research into the early diagnosis of cancer. 2013 saw the first of two donations for our puppy and 2014 will see the second. Fingers are crossed that we may have the opportunity to be introduced to our new puppy, to be named BIO, at this years lunch, so before long we will be able to follow BIO in his/her training, before they become a fully trained dog and start their journey towards helping with the early detection of this terrible disease.
Each year we are delighted by the number of comments we receive about the event and how people are keen to rejoin us and bring more family and friends the following year. So now is the time to start inviting everyone you know, to this years lunch. You can pay for our tickets via BACS and confirm with an email that you have paid for tickets and how many, alternatively you can download a booking form which you can email. All the recipient needs to do is to print it off, fill it in and send it back to the address at the foot of the page, complete with their cheque for payment or alternatively via BACS.
Voucher Scheme
This allows you to maybe purchase vouchers to save towards your ticket price of £45 (that's the same price as last year), or maybe purchase them to put towards the ticket price of a friend or family member. Vouchers are available in £5, £10 and £45 (full ticket price) denominations. Simply email us with your requirements, print off the downloadable order form and pop it in the post with your cheque made payable to "By Invitation Only' or pay via BACS. As soon as we receive payment, we can post your vouchers out to you or hold them against the cost of a ticket. We will also be holding our usual raffle and auction on the day, so if there is anything you would like to donate, please contact us.
So don't forget to put Saturday 8th March in your diary and we look forward to seeing you.
2013 Ladies Lunch -
2013 saw our second lunch in our calendar. Whilst we always try to have fun, there is obviously a serious side to why we all get together. We were introduced to Pal, a Medical Detection Dog who helps his owner to deal with her diabetes and Jan Sheward who spoke about how she tackled her breast cancer and by wanting to give something back, decided to open a charity shop to raise funds for cancer.
Once again, the fantastic Sophie Causbrook delighted the audience with her cabaret performance, and being an ‘old hand’ now, knew what to expect, singing more up tempo numbers with only a few ballads that have previously reduced the audience to tears! She is a wonderful and emotional singer whom we were very fortunate to have perform for us. With a new manager who is booking her all over the globe, our fingers are crossed that she will continue to be able to perform for us once again next year!!
2012 Ladies Lunch -
This year saw the launch of our first ladies lunch and what an emotional lunch it was too! Whilst we always try to have fun, there is obviously a serious side to why we all get together, and we listened to some emotional speeches from Anna Wemyss from the Teenage Cancer Trust and the incredibly moving experience told to us by Frances Dean on behalf of Breast Cancer Care.
We were then treated to a cabaret from the fantastic Sophie Causbrook. I have attended many events where singers have been drowned out by the conversation of the guests. Not on this occasion. As soon as Sophie start to sing, the room fell silent. Whilst watching Sophie's cabaret, we were astonished with the way she could sing an aria one minute and then go straight into 'Big Spender' by Shirley Bassey. She is a wonderful and emotional singer whom we were very fortunate to have perform for us and there wasn't a dry eye in the house. If she isn't out of the country in March 2013, she will be performing once again and promises not to make us cry....well not as much anyway! Fingers crossed!!
Sophie Causbrook
Sophie started her musical career as lead chorister in St Alban's Church, Cheam, Surrey. While with the choir she toured cathedrals all over the UK. She has performed at The Bloomsbury Theatre London in a Musical showcase 'The Voice Of Tomorrow' which was musically directed by Torquil Munrow and has also performed at the Queen Elizabeth Halls with The Brit School show case 'Centre Stage'.
When Sophie started creating her cabarets she wanted to create something a little different enabling her to use the skills she had developed while performing in musicals and include them in her one woman shows. This way she wasn't performing your everyday cabaret, she created something very special and different. A show that could be performed anywhere and suitable for all audiences.
Tux and Tiara Ball -
As some of you know, By Invitation Only has been going for over 10 years, and to mark our 10th Anniversary we held our Tux and Tiara Charity Ball raising over £3,000 on the night for our chosen charities, The Teenage Cancer Trust, CLIC Sargent and Cancer Research UK.
If you will excuse the pun, we all had an absolute ball having our pictures taken by Barney Warner from MBM Photography in the Rolls Royce 'Primrose' from the Darling Buds of May, or dressing up in feather boas in Stephen Johnson's mobile studio (which the men especially enjoyed!!) and if we weren't dancing the night away, many of us were having our very own Vicar of Dibley moment, gorging ourselves at the chocolate fountain!
We aim to hold a Ball once every five years, so watch this space.
If you would like to see some of the pictures taken at the event by Stephen Johnson from
Digital Photo Magic, just follow this link.