Allsop auctioneer Gary Murphy coaxed more than £100,000 out of a generous – and star-studded – crowd at the Amy Winehouse Foundation ball last month.
Lots going under the hammer at the Dorchester Hotel event were as dazzling as the attendees.
Everyone from rock ‘n’ roll legend Ronnie Wood to Barbara Windsor and Jade Jagger attended while Jamie Cullum performed and producer Mark Ronson compered.
Wood donated an autographed Gibson guitar, calling £10,000 on it himself to get the bidding underway. It eventually sold for £10,250.
However its auction value was surpassed by a sculpture of Winehouse by artist John Rowley, which raised £11,500.
The funds will help the Amy Winehouse foundation support vulnerable young and disadvantaged people struggling with drug and alcohol misuse. The singer died of alcohol poisoning in July 2011.
Murphy said: “The Amy Winehouse Foundation has got off to a flying start with this amazing event. It was a privilege to have been involved and help to raise such a significant sum.”
Driving them crazy all the way to Dakar
A property duo are at risk of becoming more of a comedy duo when they embark on a 4,500-mile journey from London to Dakar in an old banger.
Nick Dare of Dare Property and Manny Aparicio, director of London Project Services, are gearing up for the Dakar Banger Challenge, which will involve crossing the Western Sahara and dodging the minefields of Mauritania.
The pair may live to regret not checking the 16-year-old Jeep they bought for the trip, which turned out to have only two-wheel drive, not four-wheel drive. But that’s all part of the fun.
The intrepid pair depart Putney Bridge on December 12 and will travel through Spain, Morocco, Senegal and The Gambia. All going well, they return on 8 January.
They hope to raise at least £10,000 to divide between the Stroke Association, Trinity Hospice and King’s College London. Follow their adventure on Twitter @London_Dakar.
Prize homes for JLL’s unwanted items
When Jones Lang LaSalle merged with King Sturge last year under the JLL title, hordes of branded stationery was destined for the tip.
But the intervention of property consultant Max Crofts meant the unwanted pens, bags and polo shirts had a happier fate – in Jamaica.
Crofts took a suitcase full of the items to the island when he attended the Commonwealth Surveyors conference. He offered them to Sturge Town School, which has historical links with the international property consultancy, established in 1760. The school was named after Birmingham-born anti-slavery campaigner and relative of the surveying family, Joseph Sturge.
Crofts said: “I received a very warm welcome and the children were delighted by my visit and the gifts – some of which they will reserve for end-of-term prizes.”
