A wine tasting evening is next on the cards for an intrepid London Colney charity sailor raising money for mental health.
Shona Davies has hosted numerous events over the past year, including a charity ball and auction at St Michael’s Manor Hotel, a Gotrovo treasure hunt around St Albans, and a pirate themed pub quiz at the Ye Olde Fighting Cocks.
She has managed to collect an impressive £6,500 so far, but has a way to go before she reaches her £20,000 goal.
Ten thousand pounds of that total will be donated to Mind in Mid Herts, and the rest will go towards her participation in an international sailing event Clipper Round the World Race 2017-18.
It is a 40,000 nautical mile journey around the world on a 70-foot yacht. Shona is joining in for two legs of the race, from Western to Eastern Australia and then to Northern China via Vietnam.
She sets off in mid-October, but fund-raising will continue during and after she has gone.
Shona decided to raise the monumental amount for Mind after it supported her through a mental breakdown in 2015.
Her next event is being put on with the help from Ferenc Zelenak, owner of a specialist wine shop on George Street, St Albans, Thirty Nine 10.
She said: “His wines are absolutely out of this world and Ferenc is friendly, he is open, he has fantastic way with people, he is generous, he is super fun and the wine is amazing.”
At the event, Shona will pick a crate full of her favourite flavours to be auctioned off when she completes the boat race.
The wine tasting will take place on September 7, and for tickets and more information, visit Thirty Nine 10.
A future event Shona has planned is a movable feast - where teams of people swap restaurants to sample different starters, mains, and desserts from a variety of eateries.
She is hoping to secure prominent people from mental health charities as guests.
Shona thanked the community engagement manager at Mind, Adele Hemmings, for all her help with fund raising: “I don’t think I could have done all this without her, she is an absolute star and she deserves all the love in the world.”
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