After much finger-crossing by the Friends of Mercy (FOM) team, Sunday February 14th dawned fine and slightly overcast. It was the perfect day for the staging of FOM’s Alfresco Party in the Garden, an event originally planned for March 22, 2020 and postponed with the advent Covid 19 Lockdown to Valentine’s day.

The stunning gardens so generously provided by Jeff and Chrissy Douglas, were the perfect backdrop for an afternoon of mingling, chatting and eating the delicious grazing table and platters of canapes, provided by Little Wolf Events. We enjoyed bubbles and fine wines donated by the always supportive Nick Hern of EuroVintage and thirst-quenching brews from Brothers Beer. These factors all combined to help us achieve our stated FOM objective - raising funds for the heart of Mercy. Guest comments reflected this.

“Such a beautiful place with excellent hosting, made you want to relax and give to the charity and many wonderful donations from many people made the day a success.”

“To you and your wonderful committee, congratulations on having such a successful afternoon. My friends and I really enjoyed everything about it…”

Vigorous bidding of the main auction items as well as the highly contested silent auction, raffles and donations all contributed to the gross return of $160,000 for Mercy Hospice, the net result of which will go directly to patient care, as per the FOM Deed of Trust. 

A big vote of thanks must go to our generous sponsors - Douglas Pharmaceuticals, Guardian Group and Mondiale, Giving Time, the Jackson Family Trust and Ray White Epsom as well as all those too numerous to mention here, who willingly donated goods even in these tougher times. 

Thank you all the wonderfully supportive guests, whose deep pockets helped achieve this incredible result; to the Hon Judith Collins and David Seymour who made a brief visit in spite of behind-the-scenes news that led to Lockdown Level 2 halfway through the afternoon. Thanks to MC Paula Bennett who kept the day moving along and Jeff Tubman, the hard-working auctioneer.

Lastly thanks to the thirteen strong FOM team who made the event happen in the first place. Not surprisingly we all breathed a sigh of relief that Lockdown hadn’t happened earlier in the day, postponing this event for a second time!

Our inaugural fundraising event, Palette to Palate, held on 29 September at Sails restaurant was a resounding success and a thoroughly enjoyable day. Considering our restrictions on numbers, we were very happy with the art that sold and most importantly the funds we were able to raise for patient care at Mercy Hospice.
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Huge thanks to our supporters for their generous donations of time and products and of course to our wonderful artists who donated part or all of the proceeds of their work.

​Our meeting on Friday 26th June was followed by the presentation of glass plaques to the platinum sponsors: Maria and Grant Ryder from Mondiale, Greg and Rebecca Wilkinson from Guardian Group and our hosts of the night, founding donors Jeff and Chrissy from Douglas Pharmaceuticals. Also present was Kay Davies a Silver sponsor from Giving time.