The first ever “Sip and Support” Wine tasting with proceeds going to Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital (GOSH) took place on a wet and windy evening in November.
In the beautiful setting of St Mark’s Church, Bourne End, who generously “donated” the venue free of charge as their contribution to the fund raising activity, the evening was a great success.
The event was organised by the Broude Family from Bourne End who raise vital funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) via their Team GOSH Fund.
Guests were enchanted by the setting, laid out beautifully in the colours of Great Ormond Street and Great Wine Online.
At the beginning of the evening, Dan and Alexa Broude introduced Amy Day, the Senior Fundraising Executive for Patient Families at Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity who told us about the plans for a new Family Unit at the Hospital.
Alexa, who is a GOSH ambassador, told the story of how GOSH supported her, Dan and daughter Alice when their son George was born with a heart condition…and how they continue to support the whole family.
Then the wine tasting began.
Wines from Great Wine Online (the company owned by local magazine (Target) “Vineyard Secrets” columnist and Wooburn Green resident, Penny Heyes) were matched deliciously with the most amazing morsels, prepared by Dan and Alexa Broude, using local ingredients. These tasty “tapas” included a salmon mousse, a parsnip rosti with turkey and a delicious gingerbread brownie, followed by some Buckinghamshire cheese.
Penny and her colleague Louise, ably assisted by expert pourers, partner Graham and Aunt Judith, took the guests through the backgrounds to the 5 wines tasted, with some anecdotes about the wineries where they are made, the types of food they complement and some educational tit bits about what to look for when choosing a wine.
Dan lead the audience in some great games – Higher Lower to win a beautiful Kate Spade handbag, and Guess the Number of corks, to win a delightful Christmas wreath made from wine corks. Entry fees for these raised even more money! The bar then opened, and the fun continued “til late.
Just before we all left, Stephen Taylor, who grew up in Bourne End and was at one time, the organist in St Mark’s Church, treated us all to a wonderful organ recital including the emotional anthem “Hallejah”.
Guests were enthusiastic in their comments:
“It was a fantastic experience all round. Lovely to see our church full of local people having fun”
“ What a lovely evening Sip and Support to raise money for GOSH. Alexa Faye Broude and Penny Heyes made the evening just wonderful. Please host this again”
“Great evening for a great cause!”
“Absolutely fab wine tasting event – gorgeous wines and food, interesting background explanations, and hugely impactful talks from Alexa and Gosh. Huge well done to Alexa, Penny, and Dan, you really smashed it last night. You all put in so much hard work”
“Just to say a huge thanks for Friday, it was absolutely lovely and great to be back at St Marks! We thoroughly enjoyed it!”
“Sip and Support was a great success – not only from the money side also the charm of the whole event and social gathering! Well done🙏🌟🌟🌟🌟“
Update: Nov 21st: the total raised to date is £2,118…
For anyone who missed out but who would like to try the wines we tasted, please order below
GWO will make a donation to GOSH for every order placed.
