Last week I went to Blairlogie, near Stirling to go over the auction lots for the ball with Ally Logan – my brilliant auctioneer! I have not actually seen Ally or his wife, Carole, since he did the auction at the last (and only other) fundraising event I did where he broke a few records. Ally is a livestock auctioneer and his style is very different from Sotheby’s – which is just what we need!
Ally and Carole’s two charming daughters Natasha and Corrina were sent to the playroom while we decided on the order of the lots over egg and ham sandwiches and Carole took notes!
These are 10 of the 12 lots.
Auction lots for Miles for Smiles
Breakfast with Lorraine at GMTV
GMTV, Lorraine Kelly and Starwood Hotels and Resorts
Lorraine invites two of you to breakfast with her after a tour of the GMTV studio and a behind the scenes look at the programme in transmission. You’ll meet some of the GMTV famous faces as well as the team behind the cameras and you’ll see how the programme is put together.
Since you’ll have to be up quite early, you’ll be staying overnight in London in a room at the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel but if you are happy to wait until it has been completed, you can stay at the first “W” hotel in the UK (expected completion August 2010).
M&S Christmas Dinner for 8 served by the M&S development chef
Marks & Spencer
This is not just any Christmas dinner. This is an M&S Christmas dinner!
M&S’s Development Chef, Blair Smethurst, has put together the ultimate M&S menu. For 8 people, it includes an exciting selection of canapés, a three course meal with all of the traditional seasonal components and classics that M&S is famous for, mince pies, champage, wines and after dinner drinks.
You can serve this extravaganza yourself at any time from November until 5th January 2010 - or if you would prefer, Blair will come to your house and cook and serve the meal himself on any Saturday in November or on Saturdays 5th or 12th of December 2009!
Prestonfield Dinner served by Andy Irvine, Kirsty Wark and Fred MacAulay
James Thomson, Andy Irvine, Fred MacAulay and Kirsty Wark
Enjoy a delicious dinner for 10 guests in one of the sought after private dining rooms at Prestonfield.
Following a champagne reception with canapés, you’ll enjoy a magnificent four course dinner accompanied by wines chosen by James Thomson from his own private cellar.
Your meal and drinks will be served by the glamorous and witty dream team, Kirsty Wark and her kitchen bitches, Andy Irvine and Fred MacAulay who will later join the company.
A “piece” of the Canny Man’s
The Canny Man’s
Immortalise yourself by naming a smorrebrod sandwich or an ice cream on the Canny Man’s menu. Rename an existing sandwich – Number 69, El Duque, could be yours! – or create a new one in consultation with Gloria. You could use your own first or last name, or your partner’s or both of your names or your children’s – or something else altogether.
The only other way to achieve this status is to be a member of the Kerr clan!
Six of you can have the naming ceremony for the smorrebrod or ice cream at the Canny Man’s with a magnum of champagne and a round of your new sandwich or ice cream.
Advance bids have been invited on the Canny Man’s notice board and the highest bidders may join the auction by telephone.
From Jolomo to you
John Lowrie Morrison
Own your own exquisite piece of art, “Wee croft Lochdon Mull”, personalised with an individual message to you from the celebrated artist himself. The painting is 9” by 9” in a gilt frame under glass.
Diamonds and their stories are forever
Alexander McCall Smith & Hamilton and Inches
“Old drawers, rarely opened, contain all sorts of mundane bits and
pieces: letters from forgotten friends, old bills, dud batteries,
banknotes brought back from foreign holidays, paper clips, half-filled
notebooks; they seldom contain small packets of diamonds." So starts Alexander McCall Smith’s short story, “Unfinished Business” about the diamonds at the centre of this lot.
You can bid for a packet of 27 brilliant cut diamonds with a total weight of 2.93 carats and a total retail value of £6,500 (including a half carat brilliant cut diamond worth £1,500) and have them worked into a piece of jewellery of your imagination and design* by Hamilton and Inches’ craftsmen in their unique workshop in George Street, Edinburgh.
But you will also be bidding for the original manuscript of the story behind these diamonds. This story has been specially written by Alexander McCall Smith for 500 miles to explain how the diamonds came to be in Hamilton and Inches’ possession and available for auction tonight.
Alexander McCall Smith will sign the original manuscript and the packet in which the diamonds are discovered in the story and he will visit the Hamilton and Inches workshop with you to see what you decide to create.
Alexander McCall Smith has given the publishing rights of the story to 500 miles and the story will be published.
With their own provenance in fiction written by one of the world’s leading authors, the piece of jewellery these diamonds become, will be a unique collectors’ item.
Advance bids have been invited on the Scotland on Sunday website and the highest bidders may join the auction by telephone.
* Within limits!
Rebus 20
Ian Rankin
In 2007, to commemorate 20 years of Ian Rankin’s world famous Edinburgh detective, Inspector Rebus, the Orcadian Distillery of Highland Park bottled a 20-year-old single cask malt whisky called “Rebus 20”. Ian Rankin selected the cask himself. Only 150 bottles of this limited edition malt were poured of which a few were given to Ian. He has four left. You can bid for one of them tonight. Ian will personally sign the bottle for you tonight.
This is a once only chance to buy a piece of literary and malt whisky history.
A cathedral to Scotch whisky with Ian Rankin
The Scotch Whisky Experience and Ian Rankin
A unique opportunity for 6 guests to enjoy a tasting of some of Scotland’s most sought after whiskies in the unforgettable surroundings of The Scotch Whisky Experience next to Edinburgh Castle.
The tasting, conducted by whisky expert Julie Trevisan Hunter, will be hosted by Ian Rankin in the opulent surroundings of the whisky vault which houses the World’s Largest Collection of Scotch Whisky. Glass lined walls encase a glimmering and bewildering selection of almost 3500 unique and individual bottles. The whisky vault was purpose built for the arrival of the stunning Diageo Claive Vidiz Scotch Whisky Collection and was opened by the First Minister on 1st May 2009. It has been admired by thousands of visitors who have made heir own “whisky pilgrimage” to enjoy a dram in this unique setting.
The tasting will run for approximately 1 and 1/2 hours and will include 4 Scotch whiskies.
Jeff Bland at One Royal Circus with a special mystery guest
Jeff Bland, One Royal Circus (Mike and Susan) and a special mystery guest
Entertain 16 clients or friends with a spectacular night to remember at the sumptuous and stylish town house, One Royal Circus, Edinburgh.
Michelin-starred chef of Number One Restaurant at the Balmoral Hotel is offering his services for one night only at One Royal Circus to design, cook and serve a wonderful tasting menu for you and your guests which will be served to you round one large table. All appropriate drinks will be provided to your taste.
There will be a very special guest at your table whose identity will be revealed at the ball.
Zambia - two ways!
Miranda Curtis, Farside Africa, Robin Pope’s Nkwali Camp, Island Bush Camp, Eight Reedbuck Hotel and 500 miles
Two of you will fly business class from Heathrow to Lusaka.
Part of this unique trip is a week long safari holiday in two camps, Nkwali (4 nights) and Island Bush Camp (3 nights), in the Luangwa Valley which is one of the last unspoilt wilderness areas in Africa, and a wonderful wildlife sanctuary. Its 9000 square kilometres of ox bow lagoons, woodland and plains host huge concentrations of game including elephant, buffalo, leopard, lion, giraffe, hippo and over 400 species of birds.
The other part is an optional opportunity to volunteer at (or just to visit) one of the rural destinations in Zambia in which 500 miles is involved. This part of the trip can be as long as a full week or as short as you like. We will tailor the volunteering opportunity to your talents and aspirations. It could be around health, education, physical work – or something else.
You can choose the order in which you enjoy your dual Zambian experience. Within Zambia you will be flown between destinations in 3 to 6 seater planes which is a breathtaking experience in itself. Before your business class flight home, you’ll spend a night in the Eight Reedbuck Hotel in Lusaka.
All bed and board is included but the accommodation when staying in a remote rural location could be quite basic.
You might buy this lot for yourself and partner/friend/child – but would you also consider buying it as a once in a lifetime experience for your children in a gap year or summer holiday – or as a prize/reward for a youth competition?
Must be taken in May or June 2010 with at least 8 weeks’ notice.
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