Magic Bus UK

In last six months, many supporters came "on board the bus " at the Gala Dinner and other fundraising initiatives..

July to December 2005

Celebrate Mumbai !!!

London Gala Dinner a huge success!

On Saturday 1 October, Magic Bus hosted a Mumbai-style extravaganza to raise funds for our projects in Mumbai. The gala and auction event raised £90,000. Guests, who included Elizabeth Hurley and Arun Nayer, Nikki Bedi, and Baroness Flather arrived at the Park Lane Sheraton for a magical evening.

The stunning young opera diva, Summer, mesmerized the audience with a breathtaking performance. Inder Manocha, the up-and-coming British Asian comedian, was received well by all the guests and the sprit of Mumbai came alive when French artiste Pascal de Bollywood gave a fabulous performance of some old Bollywood film classics.

The highlight of the evening was a spectacular auction conducted by BBC TV auctioneer Mark Stacey. Roopa Vohra, Bombay revivalist jewellery designer donated a diamond and ruby necklace that soared to £7,500 with fierce competition across the room. Additional prizes donated by Boris Becker, Cox and Kings, Zuma, Orient Express, Quintessentially, Welgevonden Game Lodges and Voyage Concepts were fiercely competed over as guests showed their support for the charity.

The evening was made possible by generous sponsorship and support from a number of companies such as Deutsche Bank, City Index, Cox and Kings, Warburg Pincus, Corus Steel, Cobra Beer, Coca Cola, Harish Natwani, Weber Shandwick and Accenture and the participation of many Magic Bus friends and volunteers.

Running for the Bus
40 people gave up a Sunday morning in bed to raise funds for Magic Bus at the beginning of November, joining in with a regular 10,000-metre race in Regents Park, raising over £3k for the charity. 20 of the runners were from Cox & Kings Travel Company, a long-term partner of Magic Bus.

The field was very spread out with some coming in with less than 45 minutes, others taking a more leisurely pace coming in at 1 hour 30 minutes. Individual runners raised anything between £30 and £600 - and celebrated the success of the morning with a post-run pub lunch.

Magic Bus new office in London Bridge

Magic Bus has moved offices and now joins an array of charities at No. 1 London Bridge with an organisation called Community Action Network. 60 charities are housed on three floors of the former PWC building where shared resources make it an economical place for a small charity to flourish. Please take note of the new address and keep in touch to find out more about up coming events in the UK.

2nd Floor, Downstream Building, No. 1 London Bridge, London SE1 9BG Telephone: 0207 022 1980

Magic Bus comes runner-up in Alcan Prize for Sustainability

The Alcan Prize for Sustainability was announced on December 8 and Magic Bus came runner up and was awarded a scholarship to take part in a degree in cross sector partnerships at Cambridge University. The award is a prestigious prize judged by an international panel chaired by the Prince of Wales charity the International Business Leaders' Forum. For more information visit this link:

http://www.alcanprizeforsustainability.com/2006/en/prize2005/grant.asp

Matthew and Alka invited to Magglingen Conference

Our chairman Matthew Spacie and Program Director Alka Shesha were invited to sit on the panel of the 2nd conference on Sport and Development in Magglingen, Switzerland from 4th - 6th December as a part of as part of UNICEF's International Year of Sport. They were invited to speak on the impact of sport on child development in India and meet a number of International government and non-government agencies. The opportunity was excellent for mixing with leaders of exciting sport for development projects around the world together with representatives from government and corporate sectors all with a mandate to promote sport globally.

For an in-depth report on the speeches and presentations during the conference, visit the website:

http://www.magglingen2005.org/