Events

Wine tasting event raises over £800

“A very successful fundraising evening that was thoroughly enjoyed by all who came,” was how Kay McCluskey, Chair of the Friends of Bristol Eye Hospital, described the recent wine tasting event.

Red and white wines crafted from unusual grape varieties from as far afield as Greece, Austria and Portugal were savoured over the course of a very informative evening.

Monies were raised from ticket sales, a raffle of prizes and the auction of a rare bottle of whisky.

Click here to read more, and to see some photos.

3 November 2025, archived on 7 January 2026

A very successful quiz night

The Friends recently held a quiz night at Frenchay Cricket Club, who generously donated the use of their clubhouse and bar.

Quizmasters David Baynton and Alex Rossiter, both solicitors from Bristol law firm Wards, devised questions based on the theme of ‘eyes’ – an example of which was a round where all the answers were ‘lens’, that is people called Leonard, Lenny or Len.

The winning team was made up of staff from the eye hospital: Saj Amarakoon, Sarah Horton, James Tithecott, Michael Green and Rachel Healy.

An auction of a signed Bristol Bears rugby shirt and sales of raffle tickets (thanks to all those who donated so many lovely prizes) brought the final takings to £1,164, which will be used to support the work of the hospital.

2 June 2025, archived on 3 November 2025

East meets West wine tasting evening

On 19 September 2024, the Friends held a fund-raising wine-tasting evening, which those attending said was a ‘great success’. Held in the prestigious Clifton Club, the event was sold-out and raised £1,070 for the Friends.

Hosted by Clifton wine merchants DBM Wines, six different wines were tasted – three white, and three red – from countries including Lebanon, Georgia and Romania. DBM Wines director Richard Davis related the history of each of the wines being tasted, which added enormously to the evening’s enjoyment.

The funds raised were boosted by generous donations from some who were unable to attend and from DBM Wines, a raffle (the prizes for which were kindly donated) and the sale of our Christmas cards.

24 September 2024, updated 12 November, archived on 27 February 2025

Previous Events

Mark Carwardine

We had a thoroughly enjoyable evening at Ashton Court Mansion on 26 September 2019. Over 100 friends and supporters attended and all were spellbound by Mark’s highly entertaining illustrated talk of his many and varied wild adventures. We raised almost £1,500 from the event.

Very many thanks to:

• Mark for his time and energy helping us to raise funds
• Everyone who came to support the event or help organise
• Those who couldn’t come but sent donations
• Artspace Lifespace for the use of the Mansion
• All those who donated raffle prizes, including Bristol In Sight (hop on hop off open top bus tours), Majestic Wine in Portishead, Stanfords of Bristol, Doug Allen, Mark Carwardine and several trustees.

Ashton Court Mansion is managed by Artspace Lifespace, a Registered Charity (No 1168150) that works to secure and re-cycle interesting, unusual and often difficult vacant buildings as vibrant self-sustainable, affordable, creative and inclusive multi-use art venues.

Charity Race Night

We hosted a great evening at Churchill on 17 May 2019.

The event raised almost £2,100 for the Friends. Many thanks to all our sponsors and supporters for making it such a success, especially:

• The Kitchen Man for sponsoring the Event;
• About Face, Cedar Wealth Management Ltd, Ince Metcalfes, Rachel’s and Michael’s Antiques, Saints Old Boys FC, David & Christine Froude, Richard Markham and Matthew & Alice Owen for sponsoring all of our 8 Races;
• organisers Nik & Wendy Beatty

plus all those who named horses, attended on the night, gave donations or worked so hard to make it happen.