A very romantic occasion

Some great looking guys, an equal number of hot girls, free sangria and a novice host or two... yes it can only be a Valentine's Speed Dating event!

After a couple of weeks of stressing about numbers... would we have too many girls, or too many boys, did anyone actually see that speed dating could just be quite fun or had I made a horrible judgement call... my first charity event took place on Saturday, at The Windmill in Clapham. Roping in willing, and not so willing, single-but-fabulous friends and friends of friends we descended on a private room in the bar and soon enough the 4 minute conversations were flowing as quickly as the sangria. Yes there was a minor panic attack when I had a room full of eligible boys and no girls to be seen (fashionably late is every girl's prerogative), and there was a minor problem in the fact that with all the excitement I actually forgot to hand out name tags, but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and we managed to raise a good little amount for the Iceland trek to boot.

Big thank yous go to my fantastic friends (Olly, Sharon, Pete and George) who poked and prodded their mates into coming along, bestest housemate Tom who helped me host the event on the night and my sister for producing the gorgeous stationery for the evening.

For my first event it was actually really fun - I can see how people get hooked on all this fundraising malarkey, although I'll be taking a quick break to recover before I start planning the next one.

24 hours to go...

It's one day before my first event (the Valentine's speed dating event) and I must admit I'm cutting it close. The places are now filled (well one or two boys missing, but nothing a scout around the pub on the night shouldn't fix!)and my darling sister has brought up 350 cards and envelopes to give out to the participants which we'll be putting the finishing touches to tonight (surely the best way to spend a Friday night in London?!)

Anyway I'm sure I'll be filling you all in on Sunday... finger's crosses for at least one love-at-first-sight moment!

6 months to go... and I've finally got an event!

So it's been a while since my last blog... but I guess I can use Christmas and a much needed holiday as an excuse for the lack of activity. Anyway it's a new year and the nagging feeling that I'm off in six months is looming ahead of me, so it's time for action!

I've been thinking about events and had a few ideas, and whilst some fall by the wayside when you start thinking about the practicalities of it (a film screening where tickets would have cost about 40 quid to break even, or a five-a-side tournament where renting the pitches would have cost double the money I could have raised) others are starting to form, finally.

So firstly I'm holding a Valentine's speed dating night in Clapham.. .yes it's cheesy, but secretly you know you'd love it , and i think it's going to be really fun. The lovely people at The Windmill, on Clapham Common have lent me their beautiful pub for free and I'll be playing host to 40 of the most eligible bachelors and bachelorettes come Valentine's Day. Have just sent the word out on Facebook so am nervously awaiting my first guests.

And apart from that, I guess I need to start training, ready for those 8 hour days of trekking. Admittedly I'm not the fittest and struggle to run (read jog.... very slowly) for about 20 minutes so it's time to start working on that. I did run home tonight (it's about two miles), but I definitely stopped at the traffic lights for much longer than necessary. Time to break out the training schedule.