Full of surprises

The last couple of weeks have really been full of surprises. I recently my friends girlfriend Dani come stay – she is dating Justin Gray who has been selected to do Hawaii Ironman. She told us all about this amazing Party that she was holding to raise funds for Justin’s trip and it turned out that the night of the party would co-incide with my planned business trip/holiday to Port Elizabeth so we were able to attend.

On hearing this I thought that our own local Hero Sandra Boer should also have an evening in honour of her achievement and her generous supporters could also contribute towards her trip. I spoke to some friends and we swapped some ideas and in a very short space of time were able to plan a “Hawaii fancy dress” in support of Sandra Boer. So in just over 2 weeks with my being on an 8 day business trip in between we got the ball rolling.

My boyfriend and I were meant to be “surprise” guests at Justin’s evening in P.E on the 15th September as he did not know of our planned trip. I ensured that I would not do any training where I may bump into Justin – double checked what training he had planned for the day etc. Two hours before his party I was at the gym about to take a swim and who should I bump into…. None other than Justin Gray in the lane that I was waiting to swim in so my cover was blown!!!

His evening was very well organized and there was lots of support both financially and morally. It was well catered for and there were amazing lucky draw prizes (we won a night away at the Bushman’s Sands game lodge) and an auction which raised a fair amount of money. Congratulations Justin on your Hawaii selection and to Dani for amazing support and planning!

However for the short amount of planning that we had for Sandra’s party, we were met by amazing support and kindness. Unfortunately the party date fell over a long week-end Sat 22nd Sept. I had Sandra chose the date and told her I was house sitting at a friend in Camps Bay and that it would be an intimate dinner for 5 with a Hawaiian theme.

On contacting people the prizes for lucky draws came rolling in: We had 5 large Pizzas donated by Butlers Pizza and an additional 2 Pizza Vouchers, 2 entries for the Quantum Jolly Jester team adventure sprint race, Migun Massage vouchers for all supporters, Jail Break Max entry, some EAS Juice, Fitness Voucher from Ian Waddel and Nutrition support voucher from Michelle Mayne.

The guys from “Black Betty” entertained us with some Drum and Bass along with Jazz Guitarist and teacher James Kibby with whom I ended up singing as my cousin who was meant to sing was ill …. So it was quite a day for me.

Hazel was incredibly generous to loan us her amazing house for the evening! Andrew was great support and partner in “crime and shopping on Sat”. Nikola from Tricape – generously published our live update on party details (with the help of Robin Franklin) as well as joining Archie from Aquarius in donating a fairly large sum of money!!

Although the gathering was intimate as a result of last minute plans and long week-end, this did not stop supporters from making contributions although they were not attending the function.

Sandra arrived totally surprised to guests all dressed in Hawaiian fancy dress, a live band, potent punch, pizza and snacks and lots of proud friends! She seemed rather shocked most of the evening. I received a message of thanks that she was blown away and later on the Sunday that she had felt as if she had awoken from a dream…. Big thanks to everybody involved for making this possible!!!!

Many thanks to the following generous supporters in all senses of the word:

Andrew Espin
Nikola Tosic
Sarah Louw
Katherine Tweedie
Robin Franklin
Paul Gripper
Marisa Smallberger and Marius
Archie Mc Gie
Greg Wright and Partner
Andre Spies
Heidi Koch
Hazel Mc Queen
David Hudson and Lauren Doig
Jorg Knorr
Evan Jones
Digby Ryder and Gillian
Sean and Carol Cardinal
Michelle and Duncan Mayne
Ian Waddel
James Kibby
Ishai Aloni
Rob and Carla Graham
Fez the guitarist
Wiebke (the strong lady and swimmer)
Kevin Joffe
Clare Dodd
Lesley Jacka
Colleen Jacka
Robert Wilkinson
Eugene Nel

Anything is possible!!!

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 27th, 2007 at 6:07 am and is filed under Andre Spies, Andrew Espin, Archie Mc Gie, Cape Town, Clare Dodd, Colleen Jacka, David Hudson and Lauren Doig, Digby Ryder and Gillian, Eugene Nel, Evan Jones, Fez the guitarist, Greg Wright and Partner, Hazel Mc Queen, Heidi Koch, Ian Waddel, Ironman World Championship, Ishai Aloni, James Kibby, Jorg Knorr, Katherine Tweedie, Kevin Joffe, Lesley Jacka, Marisa Smallberger and Marius, Michelle and Duncan Mayne, Nikola Tosic, Paul Gripper, Road to Kona, Rob and Carla Graham, Robert Wilkinson, Robin Franklin, Sandra Boer, Sarah Louw, Sean and Carol Cardinal, Western Province, Wiebke (the strong lady and swimmer), fundraising party, party. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.