Casa Bella to open its doors to public!

Okay, so they didn’t come in off the street, I’d actually been corresponding with one of them for quite some time now. He is a journalist (even if I can’t help but think that he doesn’t truly believe that himself, at least , not yet) and she is, wait for it, a Midwife!  That’s right, a midwife. And you would be forgiven for picturing  an ‘old bird’, sporting a somewhat matronly demeanour  and perhaps a few  badly worn years, the reality is quite the opposite; a girl barely in her twenties who wouldn’t be too out of place on the cover of Maxim.  Indeed, this engaging and unassuming duo, destined for marriage next year,  make for a very handsome couple indeed.

So what is about this couple that had me  compelled  to meet with them in the midst of falling fabrics, misbehaving sellotape and disappearing lanterns?  Well, Andrew R  Hubbard has long been a contributor on Facebook’s St Neots page, and whilst we’ve corresponded by email, we’d never actually met, until today.

The reason for our meeting is Andrew’s pledge to run the Virgin London Marathon in April 2012.   Andrew’s a ‘sporty’ guy but the motivation behind this latest initiative wasn’t just to work up a sweat but to work up some money for Alzheimer’s Resarch UK ( http://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org). Andrew has first-hand  experience of the harrowing effects of this disease through his namesake, Roy, his Grandfather; a man full of life (and jokes) whom Andrew witnessed become an alien of his former self.  “The money I work hard to raise can’t help Granddad but it can stop people who have his condition suffering and help the families of those with dementia too.”

And it  was  Andrew’s   enthusiasm  for this cause that  drove me to want to meet the twenty-something year old to see  how I could help.

Now, anybody who knows me knows that I’m not ‘into’ charities. Yes, I said that out loud. I’m a true believer of that old addage that ‘charity starts at home’ and by that I’m also including friends who are often ‘in need’ in one way or another. These ’causes’  mean the most to me, right now….or so I thought.

It would be fair to say that, over the past year, we’ve created somewhat of brand name for Casa Bella’s themed dinner party experiences, this is evidenced by the fact that we generally have  to work to a waiting list.  So why not use one of Casa Bella’s events to help raise funds for Andrew’s charity? This was the topic of our meeting after which we  naturally concluded  that it would indeed be an active way of making a contribution through  something that we now have quite a bit of experience with.

Traditionally, Casa Bella events have only been open to close friends and strictly by invitation only so if you’ve read about our dinner party experiences and wanted to attend now’s your chance. That’s right, we’re throwing open  Casa Bella’s doors and will be selling seats to our next exclusive dinner party experience in 2012. All net proceeds will go to Andrew’s charity and towards smashing his £2,000 target.

More details about Casa Bella’s dinner party experience to rival all others will be published here in due course. In the meantime, you can still contribute to Alzheimer’s Research UK’s crucial research by donating on Andrew’s fund raising page by clicking here. Remember, every little really does help, yes  even £1!  And, if like me, you’re not into the whole ‘charity thing’ then be sure to check out future posts for details of how to snap up a place at our next event for a dinner party experience like no other.

Our next meeting about this will take place in a few weeks time. Until then,  Casa Bella’s Halloween will be the only thing on my mind for the next 6 days, besides sleeping of course because, in the now immortal words of Faithless, “I can’t get no sleep”. I wonder why!