We officially launched the boat at the Captains Club Hotel in Christchurch last Saturday. The day was started with a few words from us and then polar explorer Ben Saunders gave some inspiring words to around 175 guests who had all fought through the traffic to be there. We launched the boat into the river Stour and did a row past while Swing Unlimited belted out some fabulous tunes and the guests enjoyed some delightful themed Indian food.

The day was finished off by the raffle/auction with the main prizes being a weekend stay at the 5 star Captains Club Hotel, a signed Leicester Tigers rugby shirt signed by Martin Johnson (kindly donated by the Matthew Hampson Trust) and finally one of the highlights of the day the ‘cast signed’ latest Harry Potter book ‘The half blood prince’ which was sold for £1600. The raffle/auction raised a total of £2800 with 10% of the proceeds going to Orchid.

In total we raised an impressive £7,500. We would like to thank everyone who attended and made the day such a success and also a big thank you to all at the Captains Club Hotel for the superb venue, food and drink!