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Sensational Summer Show

A Glorious Day at Ashridge

NATO support Pepper

A punishing 998 miles

Blooming marvelous!

Tring Arts Festival supporting Pepper

A culinary evening with Antony Worrall Thompson and friends

Epson and Pepper Foundation nurses bring the big screen to the children

Ashlyns School recreates Sgt Pepper album to start celebrations for 20 years of Pepper Concerts

A magnificent round by Chartridge Park Golf Club for Pepper

An Evening of Music for Band and Choirs

Chesham Arts & Crafts Society donate quilt

St. George’s Day Lunch

Conquering Aconcagua at 6962m/22841ft, in memory of
Lauren Chambers

Berkhamsted Half Marathon & 5 mile Fun Run

Pepper opera lovers treated to a magnificent performance
of La Bohème

Pepper's Party Night - A disco paradise!

The Walrus Trophy goes to Chop Suey

Pepper Foundation 2008 Annual General Meeting

Fundraising is strong but you can help us be stronger in 2008

2008 - A special year for Pepper

Cavendish School host 'Wacky Week' for Pepper

Margaret & Paul Lunnon celebrate a special birthday

Pepper Barn Dance 2

Amersham Townswomen's Guild support Pepper

New Child Support Facilitator appointed

Grant Application Success

Wycombe Area MG Owners Club

Sunday Jazz brunch at the Gatsby

Pepper Travels to New York

Chesham High School support Pepper

Naphill & Hughenden Valley Cub Scouts did their best

IRHH cheque presentation

Pepper Youth perform at the Tring Festival of Light

Nettleden Open Gardens Day

The tiny hamlet of Nettleden, situated just outside Berkhamsted, opened 11 of its 21 gardens on the 15th June 2008 as a fundraising exercise to raise money for Pepper and the Church of St Lawrence; the latter needing considerable sums of money to meet urgent repairs to the exterior fabric of the building.

The fantastic attendance by friends of the villagers helped create a marvelous ‘typically English’ event during which time visitors were guided around each of the magnificently presented gardens swathed in beautiful sunshine, tempted with ice creams, strawberries and cream, a raffle and of course, the quintessential English summer drink - Pimms!

On the Pightle (a small area of land) a number of young and very talented singers and musicians entertained visitors throughout the afternoon, whilst a harpist played inside the church. A number of stallholders enticed visitors with different items, very kindly pledging a percentage of their takings to the event. A stall with Pepper information attracted much attention, as did two classic Jaguar cars displayed by the proud owners.

The event started with a peal from the old church bells at 2pm and ran for three hours, giving everyone the opportunity to walk around the village and visit all the gardens.

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A punishing 998 miles

In June 2008, Toby Phipps, accompanied by two friends Jamie Baker and Mark Smithies, plus a number of ‘part-timers’, cycled 998 miles from Lands End to John O’Groats to raise funds for the Pepper Foundation. At the end of his epic journey, Toby and his colleagues raised a total of £000 which is a great achievement.

“It was great to fulfil a personal ambition while raising money for Pepper”, said Toby. “We were extremely lucky with the weather and Britain is still an amazingly rural and scenic country. The hardest parts were undoubtedly Devon and Cornwall plus the west of Scotland – continuous hills!”

Toby would like to thank his father Robert Phipps and Phil Morgan for providing the necessary vehicle support along the route making life that much easier for the riders, by ensuring they were fed and watered, provided with spare clothing, tools and organising overnight accommodation.

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NATO support Pepper

Pepper Trustees Cathy Beaton, Lewis Fletcher and Tony Hill were recently invited to attend the International Evening 2008’ held at the Northwood NATO Headquarters Officers' Mess to represent Pepper.

The event featured a range of national food and drink from several NATO countries including Belgium, Canada, Poland, Spain and the USA, who displayed chocolates from Belgium, moose milk from Canada, Bigos (a hot dish) from Poland, Sangria from Spain and Chilli from the USA.

NATO Headquarters in Northwood, which is owned by the Chief of Joint Operations (CJO), is home to his own Permanent Joint Headquarters (including the JFHQ), the Commander Naval Forces North (one of NATO's three major Commanders) and Headquarters of Commander in Chief Fleet.

Northwood has seen much expansion over the past two decades and is still evolving. With the modern command, control and communications facilities installed there to allow both the Chief of Joint Operations to direct national operations world-wide and the Commander in Chief to direct Maritime Operations, Northwood is very much in the front line.

During the evening, baskets of fine food and drink from each country were raffled off, the proceeds of which were donated to Pepper totaling an incredible £1653. The camp commander very kindly presented a cheque to Lewis Fletcher who expressed his sincere thanks to all concerned for making such a valuable contribution towards the work Pepper does for sick children within the local community.

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A Glorious Day at Ashridge

After all of the bad weather that we have been suffering from recently, it was with great relief that the sun shone gloriously on Wednesday 6th August for the 11th Annual Eastwoods Pepper Golf Day, organised by Pepper stalwart and Patron, Joe Collier with Janet Edwards.

92 golfers arrived at Ashridge Golf Club, just outside Berkhamsted, to fortify themselves with bacon rolls and coffee before the 9.00 am shotgun start sending them all on their way. Specialist Cars, the well respected BMW dealership who recently took over the old Stratstone premises at Cow Roast, Tring only the week before, had already become part of the Pepper community by sponsoring a BMW 1 Series convertible for a ‘Hole In One’, along with other prizes on every one of the Par Three’s.

Sadly, no one managed to win any of those prizes, but there were other magnificent prizes to be had at the end of the day donated by various sponsors, awarded to Carol Jones as best individual score for the Ladies, James Baird for the men and Barncroft Birdies being the winning team with 101 points and therefore the holders of the trophy for the coming year.

Celebrities Luther Blissett and Nigel Barden played, along with Don Walcott, father of Theo. After dinner, Pepper Nursing Team Leader, Sonya O’Leary spoke movingly about the work that the Pepper Nurses do and it was obvious how much this affected the audience, especially the men, who then bid generously in the auction, which Nigel conducted in his own enimitable professional manner.

Such items as Rafael Nadal’s tennis ball, a day’s pheasant shoot, a pair of Frank Bruno’s boxing gloves and a jacket signed by the great Pelé, all went under the hammer for generous amounts. At the time of going to press, the estimated total for the day is in excess of £18,000, raised by the generosity of the golfers and numerous sponsors. A truly magnificent amount from a fantastic day!!!

All the team at Pepper would like to thank Janet for organizing such a fantastic day and to Joe for his timeless support of Pepper and of course to all those who took part behind the scenes including sponsors who made the day a great high profile event for the charity.

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Sensational Summer Show

Audiences were absolutely wowed by the Pepper Foundation’s 20th Anniversary Summer Show recently, which is predicted to have raised in excess of £40,000 for the charity.

For the past two decades this fantastic musical event has entertained residents of Berkhamsted and throughout Dacorum with this year being no exception.

Pepper Rock Legends, was a celebration of all the previous Pepper shows, featuring the best songs, anthems and performances for a stunning reprise of the best of 20 years.  It was Berkhamsted’s biggest and best live musical extravaganza featuring music performed by local performers, rock musicians and children from Pepper Youth, many of whom over the years after leaving school, have taken up music or the stage as their chosen profession as a result of being given the chance to perform at the Pepper Summer Show. 

From the music of Abba and Bon Jovi to Elton John, Tom Jones and Queen, budding stars performed a collection of songs from the previous 19 shows in perfect harmony to virtually sell-out audiences.

Huge video screens were placed either side of the stage set at the Centenary Theatre, Berkhamsted Collegiate School, allowing audiences to capture close-ups of the singers, musicians and talented dancers performing their numbers.  The screens complemented the exceptional stage design created and built as ever by Paul Lunnon and his dedicated team of helpers. We understand the immaculate and professional sound and lighting, far surpassed even the recent ‘Guns & Roses’ concert.

Pepper founder Robert Breakwell said, “We’ve had a great time working on the 20th Sgt Pepper Show and I’m glad that the sell out audiences enjoyed our recreation of some of the musical highlights from the last 2 decades.  The cast and crew have all worked really hard and it’s been a pleasure to work with such a talented and committed bunch of people.  For me as one of Pepper’s founders, our 20th show was very nostalgic and special.  I feel that the Beatles’ inspirational Sgt Pepper album helped us to capture some magical moments in the performances this year.”

Event Chairman, John Watts, said, “It’s too early to be sure, but we’re very optimistic about achieving our target of raising £40,000 for the Pepper Nurses.  It was great that we had a virtual sell out this year and this has really helped.”
In addition to the show, ticket holders enjoyed a very popular bar, excellent food and live music, in the support Marquee, presented by great local bands both before and after all performances.  There was also a Raffle, Silent Auction and Tombola offering some very attractive prizes.   

1989 saw Berkhamsted’s first performance of the Sgt. Pepper album inspired by Karen Breakwell who had the original idea to perform the album to raise funds for local charities, but who died of cancer before her dream was realised.  The first performance organised by her husband, Robert, took place in July 1989, exactly one year after her death at the age of 30.

The Sgt Pepper concerts have become a local fixture in the July event diary at Berkhamsted Collegiate School who very kindly donate their facilities to Pepper free of charge, attracting large audiences and raising huge sums of money for the charity.
All previous shows and the latest Pepper Rock Legends have been organised entirely by unpaid volunteers who have dedicated all their spare time and in some case holidays, to ensure each show surpasses the others.

Individuals, performers, contributors and suppliers read like a Who’s Who of local talent. Unfortunately they are too numerous to list in just 8 pages of an A4 newsletter, but enough for them to know how important their contribution has been to the Pepper Foundation under the enthusiastic and professional direction of John Watts and his show management team,

This years show will be a very hard act to follow next year which is why we need your help now while this year’s success is still fresh in your minds.  If you are interested in becoming part of the team by offering us your services, please register your interest by contacting Karen Buchanan our Administration Manager on 0845 6755566 or by email to <karenbuchanan@btinternet.com> .

In the words of Robert Breakwell, in his emotional letter of appreciation to all the cast and helpers of this year’s show and those who gave so much over the past twenty years to share the journey with him – ‘And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make’. 

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Tring Arts Festival supporting Pepper

Thursday 5th June saw the opening of the 2008 Tring Festival Art Exhibition with a preview night. Organised by Cherrie Gallagher and a new group, Tring Visual Arts, the exhibition featured work by 26 local artists displaying more than 100 pieces.

The exhibition ran until June 15th, and if the preview night was anything to go by attracting over 100 people, the event obviously was a huge success.

The organisers and the artists supported Pepper with contributions from sales and a raffle, which totaled at the end of the show an impressive £1397.

During the preview, Jonathan Tweed, Chairman of the Pepper Foundation, thanked everyone for their support and generosity when he opened the show not realizing how much the event was later to generate. He outlined how important the money raised will be to the charity, as it costs around £290 a day to fund a Pepper nurse to enable them to continue their essential work.

Among the guests was Mike James the Mayor of Tring, and Councillor and Mrs Brian Ayling, Mayor of Dacorum until
May 2008.

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A culinary evening with Antony Worrall Thompson and friends

Joe Collier and his team from Eastwoods Butchers, in conjunction with Pepper, staged yet another successful Celebrity Cookery Demonstration at the Centenary Theatre, Berkhamsted Collegiate School on Friday 18th April. Prior to the main event scrumptious home made pork sausages and ‘AWT’ spicy pork burgers were prepared and served in freshly baked buns by the ‘Ladies in Pigs’ who kindly brought their catering trailer along to support the event.

A packed house of over 500 people came to see the team of professionals inform and delight them with scintillating cookery and conversation. Joe Collier spoke about the Pork Industry as the main theme of the evening. Together with his contemporaries from the meat world and a selection of guest chefs, Joe advised the audience about animal welfare followed by the preparation of various pork recipes.

Joe Collier, David Bunting, Ben Langdon, Keith Mulford and Alan Bennett were our expert butchers for the evening. Guest chefs and sous chefs were Doug Brunen, Aida Poppleston, Ashley Walcott and Caroline Marston.

David Lidgate opened the proceedings and during the course of the evening, interviewed each of the celebrity guests. MC for the evening was the irrepressible BBC radio journalist Nigel Barden who kept the pace alive with his wit and wisdom.

Jimmy Doherty from the acclaimed BBC TV series ‘Jimmy’s Farm’ and award winning turkey farmer Paul Kelly from Kelly Bronze Turkeys, captivated the audience with a talk about game and the survival of the game industry.

After a variety of mouth-watering dishes were prepared, particularly Aida’s recipe for a succulent beef dish from her native Dominican Republic, some of the hot food was available for the audience to sample during the interval. Other cold prepared pork dishes were available to buy at the end of the show.

The main attraction, celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson, delighted and entertained the audience during the second part of the show with his recipes and demonstrations of Chicken Kiev and Steak au Poivre dishes.

Nigel then hosted an auction with a selection of fantastic items on offer. After some frenetic bidding we are overwhelmed to report that the total raised from the auction alone was an amazing £3,625. Overall, the evening raised over £9,000 for Pepper – almost enough to nurse two children in their own homes for a year.

Our thanks as always, must go to Joe and his team for the huge commitment they all put into making this event a success, but also to everyone who took part, from the guest
chefs and experts, to the volunteers and crew backstage who worked tirelessly to make a seamless and entertaining night so successful.

© Photography by Paul Lunnon

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Epson and Pepper Foundation nurses bring the big screen to the children

The following story is taken from Epson’s own press release.

Epson continues its support for The Pepper Foundation with a donation of an EMP-TWD10, its latest Epson Cinema projector with built-in DVD and speakers.

Epson has given the EMP-TWD10 Home Cinema projector to The Pepper Foundation nurses who will be able to take it into the homes of families they look after to provide a big screen movie atmosphere for our children who otherwise might not get the chance to experience it.

The EMP-TWD10 is a portable home entertainment centre that has been designed for ease of use whilst delivering the highest-quality images and stereo sound. With just one power lead, there isn’t the worry of connecting a host of cables before starting to watch a DVD.

Jonathan Tweed, Chairman of The Pepper Foundation commented, ‘The support we have had from Epson UK since being chosen as their charity of the year has made a real and lasting difference to us.

Epson has carefully matched their capabilities to our needs, and delivered on them all, we are tremendously grateful for their proactive support.’

Epson UK has supported The Pepper Foundation since April 2007 and has collected around £15,000 through their various fundraising efforts. There are currently 32 children receiving support from the nurses but this can increase up to 40. Perhaps surprisingly most of the children do not have cancer related diseases, but more often some kind of degenerative genetic condition. Tragically this will often affect more than one child in the same family.

Although based in Berkhamsted, The Pepper Foundation cares for children throughout the Chiltern Area from High Wycombe, to Aylesbury, Watford, Beaconsfield and beyond. But frustratingly, and in spite of the exceptional support local families and children are getting, few people have heard of Pepper!

Nick Butler, Managing Director at Hemel Hempstead based Epson UK said, ‘We are delighted to be able to offer Pepper our support financially and help to raise their profile as a truly worthwhile local charity. We hope that the projector is a practical offering we can leave with the charity that will benefit the children and their families in the future.’

To find out more about Epson’s products
and services, visit www.epson.co.uk.

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Ashlyns School recreates Sgt Pepper album to start celebrations for 20 years of Pepper Concerts

Celebrations to mark the 20th Pepper Show season got off to a nostalgic start when students from Ashlyns School in Berkhamsted raised the roof with their evocative re-creation of the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album in early May.

Ashlyns students along with singers and musicians from Greenway and Bridgewater Schools and guests from Berkhamsted Pepper shows performed the iconic 1967 album with great flair. They successfully captured the diverse range of musical styles required by John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s masterpiece and pulled it together into a psychedelic and atmospheric 50 minute performance which delighted audiences over three nights.

Pepper Founder, Robert Breakwell, said, ‘I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the start of Pepper’s 20th year. It was a privilege and incredibly nostalgic to be part of the sensational performances at Ashlyns and we’re so grateful to the school and its talented students for agreeing to stage the album in the Pepper show’s anniversary year. Pepper’s links with Ashlyns go back to its earliest days with many of us who were involved in the original event being ex-Ashlyns students. I am proud that those links are stronger than ever 20 years on.’

Funds raised by the Ashlyns Pepper show will be shared between the Ashlyns School Association, The Pepper Foundation and the Simon Blackett Bursary Fund set up in memory of past Ashlyns pupil, Simon Blackett who provided sound and lighting for many of the Pepper shows including the first, but who sadly died in 2005. The Bursary Fund will provide financial support for Ashlyns pupils wishing to pursue a career in stage lighting and sound.

© Photography by Paul Lunnon

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A magnificent round by Chartridge Park Golf Club for Pepper

During a recent ceremony at the Chartridge Park Golf Club in April 2008, the 2007 Club’s Captains – Jayne Denham and Graham Griffiths presented Pepper’s Chairman, Jonathan Tweed, with a cheque for £3,800. This amazing amount represented the culmination of a year of hard work on the part of both Jayne and Graham during their terms as Captain.

Among the many fundraising events held throughout the year, was a Bridge afternoon, the first ever held at the Club, which proved to be such a great success that it raised a substantial amount towards the final total.

The Pepper Foundation extend our grateful thanks to both Captains for choosing to support Pepper as their ‘Charity of the Year’ during their term in office and a big ‘thank you’ also, to all Club members for helping to raise this magnificent contribution to fund our nurses.

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An Evening of Music for Band and Choirs

On the 19th April, the Rotary Club of Amersham hosted a superb musical evening during which the audience were entertained by The Amersham and Chesham Bois Choral Society, the Chess Valley Male Voice Choir and The Amersham Band, together with soloists, Phillipa Cash and Mark Armstrong. (Mark played trumpet in the first ever Pepper Summer Show.) Beacon Voices, a choir comprising of boys, aged between 11 and 13, from The Beacon School not only sang beautifully but one played a delightful cello solo.

The Pepper Foundation was one of the charities benefiting from this event and Dave Bevan thanked all those involved on behalf of all the charities whilst giving a brief summary of Pepper’s activities.

Pepper would like to thank The Rotary Club of Amersham for their generous support during President Phil Roberts’ year in office.

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Chesham Arts & Crafts Society donate quilt

The Chesham Arts & Crafts Society has kindly donated a superb quilt to be featured in the silent auction during the annual Summer Show.

Beautifully made and measuring around 100cm by 150cm, it features many well-known children’s characters including Noddy; Spot the Dog, The Teletubbies and Donald Duck. In all, there are 27 characters featured in a chequered design.

The superb quality of this quilt makes it an ideal display item as well as a functional one; therefore you can start now to register your interest by emailing your advanced bid to Karen Buchanan at karenbuchanan@btinternet.com.

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St. George’s Day Lunch

Pepper patron Joe Collier attended a St. George’s Day lunch, held at the Hilton Hotel in Watford on Friday 25th April.

Guest celebrity Tom O’Connor (left) also attended the lunch, hosted by the St. George’s Day Charity Club. Joe was invited to talk to the assembled guests about Pepper and the work of the Pepper Nurses, after which, everyone who attended agreed that a donation should be made to the Foundation.

One of the event organisers, Richard Franklin (right), is shown during the cheque presentation of £2000 to Joe (centre). Our very sincere thanks go to Richard and to all the supporters of the St. George’s Day Charity Club for their generous contribution to Pepper in support of the work we do in the local community.

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Conquering Aconcagua at 6962m/22841ft, in memory of Lauren Chambers

Last November, Tony Tollinton from Aldbury had a conversation with Pepper’s Karen Buchanan about his idea of climbing Aconcagua, the largest mountain in North/South America in memory of Lauren Chambers who died in January 2007.

Tony’s goal soon became a reality fuelled by his desire to remember the bravery of one so young whose life was cut short after a long struggle with cancer.

The pre-amble to his sponsorship form talked affectionally about Lauren and why he felt the need to undertake this challenge in her memory.

Tony commented, ‘I can remember when and where I had the idea. I was on my weekly run early this year in late January, and I had just come out of some woods near the Chiltern escarpment. My run was often a time of reflection and Lauren was very much in my thoughts. She had died a few days earlier after a long struggle with cancer.

Lauren was a girl from Aldbury and my wife Lucy and I had known her and her parents for many years. Lucy had tried to teach Lauren Maths at Aldbury School, but this had not been easy after Lauren had a brain tumour at the age of five.

I wanted to do something for Lauren to make sure that her memory would live on. If I raised money in her name, I would feel that I had added something small for what seemed such a waste of life.

I had been planning to climb a high mountain for many years and if I reached 20,000ft I would have achieved the goal of climbing higher than my father who reached the top of Kilimanjaro (5963m/19563ft) in about 1946.

A few months before Lauren died, Lucy and I were on a reunion in Derbyshire with some old mountaineering friends. One of them had climbed Aconcagua, therefore if he could do it, perhaps I could achieve a similar challenge! I had found my goal’.

Tony did achieve his goal and conquered Aconcagua, reaching the summit on 28 January 2008 – three days after the first anniversary of Lauren’s death. Tony raised a magnificent £4196 for Pepper, an amazing achievement.

We are so grateful to Tony for embarking on this trek not to mention the physical challenge it presented him with, all in memory of Lauren by raising funds for the Pepper nursing team.

Our heartfelt thanks Tony on behalf of everyone at Pepper.

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Ideal weather conditions for runners in the Berkhamsted
Half Marathon & 5 mile Fun Run

On Sunday March 3rd 2008, the Rotary Clubs of Berkhamsted held their 26th annual half marathon and Fun run which attracted over 1100 entries for the half marathon alone with 933 runners completing the course.

This year the weather was kind to us unlike 2007 when torrential rain battered the runners all day.

This year’s Half Marathon winner in 1hr.16 was Stephen Buckle from St Albans Striders followed by his teammate
Jonathan Scott in 1hr.17.

The team prize was a close fought race with the winner’s
Gade Valley Harriers just pipping St Albans Striders to the finishing line.

The first lady home was Sandra Williams in 1hr.26.30

The fun run had 271 finishers with first place going to
Daniel Horner from St Albans Striders in 27.37mins followed by Jack Thie from Ashlyns School Berkhamsted in 29.08mins.

This year’s School prize was won by Berkhamsted Collegiate School ending Ashlyns run of 3 successive victories.

The youngest runner was 3yr old Liam Brown who managed to get round the course in 2hr.10!

Congratulations to all those who took part and to Nick Potts for organising the event, proceeds of which will go to Pepper once all the sponsorship monies have been collected. Last year, despite the rain, the amount raised by the Berkhamsted Rotary Clubs, totaled a staggering £22,134.00 for Pepper.

The Trustees and the Pepper Nursing Team wish to thank Nick and his team of Rotarians for their time and generosity in running such an event.

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Pepper opera lovers treated to a magnificent performance
of La Bohème

Pepper Opera lovers were treated to a magnificent performance of Puccini’s La Bohème on Sunday 17th February at the Centenary Theatre, Berkhamsted Collegiate School.

This was the seventh year that the Garden Opera Company under the musical directorship of Peter Bridges had delighted the audience with an outstanding production.

It was a captivating performance not only because of the excellence of the singing, but also the very natural way in which the performers enacted the story of the young Parisian friends having to face the death of Mimi, superbly sung by Anne Bourne.

Chris Steele as Rodolfo, Adrian Powter as Marcello and Sally-Ann Sheperdson as Musetta also gave fine performances.

As ever the mobile set, which this year depicted Paris in the 1940s, was cleverly designed to adapt quickly to the scene changes. A superb Chamber ensemble of six musicians provided music.

Thanks must go to Gillian Munro and her team of volunteers who served champagne cocktails at the bar, provided front of house, technical support, meals and accommodation for the opera company.

Pepper is also grateful and privileged to be acquainted with The Garden Opera Company who over the past 7 years, has contributed enormously to the Pepper Foundation.

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Pepper’s Party Night – A disco paradise!

They came, they saw, they boogied!  Ashlyns school hall was transformed into a disco dancer’s paradise!  130 funksters turned up to party and boogie on down at the Pepper Party Night on a cold Saturday night in February.

Some marvellous authentic 70’s outfits lived to see another day and strut their stuff and boy did they look good!  The guys even looked better than the gals – it was the big hair and fake moustaches that did it!

Jonathan Tweed opened the evening by thanking everyone for attending and supporting the charity then the brilliant ‘Planet Funk’ hit the boards.

The dance floor was full from the moment the band started playing and stayed that way for the whole night.  The only respite was when the stupendous ploughman’s suppers were served – mouth-watering home made knot rolls, a selection of the finest cheeses, pickles, onions and tomatoes to tempt the taste buds, all topped off with a fluffy angel cake with fresh cream and jam…..mmmmmmmmmm!

The prize draw raised an amazing £512 and our 4 lucky prize winners won dinner for 2 at The Gatsby, a spa evening for 2 at Champneys, a magnum of champagne and a £20 Waitrose voucher.

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The Walrus Trophy goes to Chop Suey

Dr Chop and Mr Suey, winners of Pepper’s Quiz night, held in February, are seen holding the Walrus Trophy after beating Bogside from Chesham who have won the trophy three times in the past.
  
Chrighton & Judith Limbert and their son; Martin & Jane Beckett; Alister Hodgson, plus other team members alias ‘Dr Chop and Mr Suey’ have never won the Trophy before despite it having been designed and made by Chrighton himself who for the past 10 years has presented it to other successful teams. Consequently 2008 was a significant win for the team who had come so close to winning it on previous occasions.
  
Third place went to Christopher Hayward’s ‘The Innocents’ from Berkhamsted, whilst The Wooden Spoon winners lived up to their name of ‘Could do Better’.

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Pepper Foundation 2008 AGM

The Pepper Foundation AGM will take place on:
Wednesday 12 March 2008 at 7.30pm
in the Old Hall, Berkhamsted Collegiate School, Castle Street, Berkhamsted.

All friends and supporters are welcome to this essential meeting in the Pepper calendar of events for everyone concerned with the charity.

It is imperative we have your support for the Trustees of the Foundation and Directors of PEL in order that you can be brought up to date with developments over the past twelve months and what plans are afoot for the next twelve months in this our 20th Anniversary year.

Please try and give this event your undivided support by attending this very important meeting. Refreshments will be available on a donation paid basis.

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Fundraising is strong but you can help us be stronger in 2008

The Trustees of the Foundation recently held a strategic review to make sure the charity is heading in the right direction over the next three years. It is a positive outlook for the charity because fundraising has been strong over the past months with some notable successes, most recently the Media Planning Group auction for the media industry at the Comedy Club in London. This was organised as usual by one of our patrons, Marc Mendoza, featuring a set from Al Murray, the pub landlord, and included a speech from our very own Pepper nurse, Liz Ruff.

However, in spite of this success we are still frustrated by our lack of progress in one area – schools in the Herts/Bucks region. There are more than 400 schools in the area covered by the nurses, but we are helped by about four! That is only a slight exaggeration and yet we are a local children’s charity often helping patients and siblings who attend the schools!

Of course schools have many worthy causes to support and are inundated with requests. We have tried written communications, and ideas like the Pepperthon with some local success, but they tend to be swallowed up amongst all their other mail. The common denominator where we have been successful
is personal contact – having a contact for the charity local to, or within, the school as a pupil or relative of a pupil – to promote the idea of supporting Pepper.

The charity is committed to this strategy and determined to succeed in 2008. We have nominated one of our new Trustees, Tony Hill, to lead the initiative, so please if you have information or contacts that would help us to explain our charity and its need for support to schools throughout the area, please contact Tony on tonyhill26@waitrose.com.

When we have had the opportunity and have made a connection, we have had great success, and we are very grateful for the support we get from schools local to Berkhamsted, including:

Berkhamsted Collegiate School, Cavendish School, Bridgewater School, Ashlyns School, Haresfoot School, Two Waters School, Chesham High School and several others.

Please help us to expand these contacts more broadly and help children to
help children.

Have a happy and healthy New Year!

Jonathan Tweed
Chairman of Trustees
The Pepper Foundation

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2008 - A special year for Pepper

2008 is Year 20 for the Pepper Foundation! We will be celebrating two decades of Pepper summer rock shows with a special extravaganza show in 2008. If you have helped, in any capacity at all, over the years – or you know someone who has, please get in touch with us. Details will be posted on our website www.pepper.org.uk or you can email karenbuchanan@btinternet.com

We are planning a big reunion event for everyone who has ever volunteered at a Pepper show. The email received from Janet Cartwright in November 2007 below is a typical example of old friends renewing contact:

Dear Karen,
I have just been browsing through Pepper News and read with disbelief that next year is the 20th Anniversary. It does not seem to be 20 years since I sat with Robert Breakwell in my tea room (Castle Tea Rooms) planning the first concert to be held at the then Boy’s School.

At that time I was Chairman of BYT, which eventually fed Pepper Youth under the guidance of Kath Paterson. I worked with Pepper for 10 years until I left Berkhamsted for the West Country. In fact in my last year I introduced Eastwood’s butchers for the BBQ and I see Joe is still a continuing strong supporter and fundraiser. What a long way Pepper has come in those 20 years and what wonderful work you have all done. Especially people like Linda Horsfall and Mr. Kite, who have been there from the beginning.

May I wish you all the best in the planning stages of next year’s 20th concert – I am sure somebody somewhere is already rehearsing.

I am now retired and living in the French Alps (70 next week) but if I have the opportunity of being in UK next summer, Berkhamsted will certainly be on my list in the hope of catching the concert.

Once again my good luck and best wished to everyone for your up and coming 20th Anniversary.

Kind regards,
Janet Cartwright (Tucker)

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Cavendish School host 'Wacky Week' for Pepper

The annual ‘Wacky Week’ for charity took place at The Cavendish School in Hemel Hempstead at the end of half term. The event, organised by the school’s sixth form students, proved once again to be a big hit with students and staff alike.

The sixth form committee set up a series of fundraising events including a staff ‘Stars in Your Eyes’, a Talent Show for students and a Promises Auction. Students also had the chance to challenge members of staff in various sporting contests.

At the end of a very successful week, students had raised £2,200 for Pepper. Karen Buchanan represented the charity at the cheque presentation who described the money raised from the students efforts as ‘fantastic’, saying it was great to see students, staff and their families making so much effort to support seriously ill children in our local community.

Director of Post 16 Learning, Mr Ian Sudbery, enjoyed the week’s events saying ‘It is always a privilege to see the school community working together for such a good cause. Planning the event develops the organisational skills of the sixth form students and thanks to the support of the students and staff – the week was a huge success’.

Everyone at Pepper send their grateful thanks for all the support we have received from The Cavendish School on numerous occasions and wish all the students and staff a very Happy New Year.

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Margaret & Paul Lunnon celebrate a special birthday

Pepper stalwarts Margaret & Paul Lunnon celebrated their joint 60th birthdays in style recently. Fireworks, family, friends and frivolity were the order of the day at their recent birthday celebrations held in the Great Hall at Ashlyns School.

A winter wonderland inside the school set the scene for a wonderfully decorated, lit and atmospheric birthday venue.

A fabulous professional firework display, accompanied by a dramatic soundtrack and narration was the highlight of the evening.

Margaret and Paul requested no birthday gifts with donations to Pepper instead. Consequently, we are delighted to report that an incredible total of £2,500+ was given by friends to the happy birthday couple, with the total still rising! Everyone at PEL Events and the Pepper Foundation, not to mention friends and supporters, send our warmest congratulations to Margaret and Paul on their special birthdays and our thanks to them and their family & friends for their amazingly generous support.

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Pepper Barn Dance 2

Yeeee–haaa!! There’s nothing more guaranteed to put a smile on every face and get the most determined non-dancers on the floor than a Barn Dance. Pepper’s second country hop was no exception. It wasn’t long before first timers were dosy-doeing and right hand starring with complete confidence, alongside the old hands. Almost a hundred hoe-downers turned out to enliven a chilly November Saturday evening at Northchurch Social Centre.

‘Knit Your Own Yoghurt’ a first rate five piece band provided the music, with caller John Booth. And long time Pepper supporter Neil (Mac) Mackay’s cross over folk group ‘Free and Easy’ performed a superb supper time cabaret spot. The hall was liberally decorated with foliage and the chequered table-clothes also added to the real ‘country’ feel.

All too soon it was time for the last dance. But not before £850 had been added to Pepper coffers. Thanks to all of the team who organised the event, showing yet again how Pepper puts the ‘fun’ into fundraising, with particular thanks to Moira and Roy Massingale.

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Amersham Townswomen's Guild support Pepper

Last November the Amersham Townswomen’s Guild chose Pepper as their charity for the forthcoming year and eleven months later, Jonathan Tweed, Chairman of The Pepper Foundation, was delighted to accept a cheque for £1700 recently, presented to him by the Guild’s Chairman, Anne Jones.

This represented the culmination of a year’s fundraising on behalf of Pepper as a result of money being raised by many and varied activities, including a stall in Amersham market, a Strawberry Tea and several coffee mornings. To add to the splendid donation, a further £270 was raised for Pepper and Iain Rennie from the sale of Christmas cards and goodies – and a further £10 to Pepper by the ladies saying ‘keep the change’.

Perhaps the picture needs a bit of explanation – Anne doesn’t usually wear her bra over her jumper. This meeting was held during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the whole of the Townswomen’s Guild was ‘in the pink’ that evening, even Jonathan sported a token pink sock! So, in addition to their tremendous support for Pepper, a substantial amount was raised on
the evening for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

Our sincere thanks are extended to the Amersham Town’s Women’s Guild for their continued support for Pepper over the year and for their fantastic fundraising achievements. Thank you, ladies. We look forward to keeping in touch.

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New Child Support Facilitator appointed

We are also delighted to welcome Karen Neill as our new Children’s Support Facilitator, to the Pepper Team who joined the team on 29th October 2007.

Karen will be working alongside the Pepper Team nurses by providing structured play activities for the children they care for as well as providing pre and post bereavement support for siblings and the children of families the IRHH Family Support Team are involved with.

She comes from a background in education having trained and qualified as a Primary School Teacher, and has worked with children aged between 3-11 years. In addition to her academic training, she has also undertaken counseling training and has worked in the field of bereavement on a voluntary basis.

Karen said,
‘This is a new and exciting challenge for me and I am really pleased to be joining Pepper. As the new Children’s Support Facilitator, working with both the Pepper Team and the Family Support team, I am really pleased to have the opportunity to work in our own ‘Pepper Room’ based in Princes Risborough, which was set up as a resources/play room a few years ago with very generous donations from the Pepper Foundation.

As my position had been vacant for a period of time, the Pepper Room had not been used for a while and now would really benefit from an update and re-vamp. We have had the room redecorated but now I am fully instated in my new post, and as part of this project, we would love to install a computer system for the children and need a modern, slimline computer as we only have limited space.

We have already been kindly offered a printer as a donation from Epson, as part of their commitment to Pepper during our year as Epson’s Charity of the Year, but would now be extremely grateful for any further offers of donations to enable us to purchase the rest of the system.

If anyone would like to make a donation towards the cost of the computer, or could sponsor one, please get in touch with Karen (kneill@irhh.org).

With great thanks’.

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Grant Application Success

Sue Grace and the Family Support Team are delighted to advise us that they
have been successful in receiving three grants from applications made by
IRHH to extend the team’s work.

The funding will enable the Family Support Team to commence an
e-listening service to help anyone who has had the Pepper or IRHH nursing teams involved in their or a family member’s care cope with bereavement, but particularly young adults and children. It is often the case that the younger members of our community feel more comfortable with being able to use email, text and phone to communicate and so the e-listening service is an exciting new enhancement to the service that the team already provide.

The grants will also enable the team to further enhance their telephone support service and Claire McLachlan, Family Support Team Assistant, is liaising with The Samaritans to organise training and ongoing support.

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Wycombe Area MG Owners Club

We have had the privilege of being the Charity of the Year for the Wycombe Area MG Owners Club (WAMGOC) throughout 2007. On Wednesday 7 November Pepper Chairman, Jonathan Tweed – surrounded by MG Owners, was presented with a cheque for £1000 by the Club’s Area Secretary Keith Darbon.

Jonathan also received the proceeds of the evening’s raffle and added another £57 to the already substantial sum raised.

Our thanks go to WAMGOC for their much valued and appreciated support for Pepper over the year and for their fantastic fundraising efforts.

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Sunday Jazz brunch at the Gatsby

Nick Pembroke of The Gatsby in Berkhamsted held a Sunday Jazz Brunch on 25 November, with a donation of proceeds going to Pepper as part of his ongoing support of the charity.

Guests were able to choose food from the Sunday brunch menu as well as the
à la carte menu whilst being entertained by jazz trio ‘Toad’. The event proved to be a roaring success with the restaurant full to capacity, so much so that Nick has promised to repeat the exercise on a regular basis, with another jazz brunch planned for January.

See What’s on (p8) for details of the next date or call The Gatsby on 01442 870403 – a wonderful way to spend a relaxed Sunday afternoon!

Thank you Nick for your ongoing support and a special thanks to Nick Potts for helping to mastermind the day.

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Pepper Travels to New York

Natalie Butler recently completed the New York Marathon for Pepper and raised a staggering £2700!

Congratulations Natalie and from all the team at Pepper,
a huge thank you.

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Chesham High School support Pepper

Years 8 and 9 from Chesham High School supported Pepper as their chosen charity during their charity week in October 2007. The pupils made and sold cakes, washed cars and had sponsored haircuts amongst other activities.

A cheque for £650 was presented to Pepper Fundraiser Liz Clarke & Pepper Trustee Tony Hill by Lauren Hill, Will Holderness and Holly Smith during an assembly held before Christmas. Well done Year 8 and 9 and a huge thank you from Pepper.

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Naphill & Hughenden Valley Cub Scouts did their best

Shelagh Sheppard, Akela of Naphill and Hughenden Valley Cub Scout group, and her husband Steve, visited the Pepper office recently to hand over yet another donation! The Cubs have adopted Pepper as their Charity of the Year and have been doing sterling work to raise funds for us.

The Cubs raised an amazing £167.14 at their AGM and Summer BBQ and to date their total donation to Pepper is in excess of £350. Keep up the good work boys, we are very grateful to you for all your fundraising efforts!

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IRHH cheque presentation

Jonathan Tweed, Chairman of the Pepper Foundation, presents a cheque for £40,000 to Rowena Dean, Chief Executive of the Iain Rennie Hospice at Home, and the IRHH team.

This cheque is the final donation of the year to fund the Pepper Nurses, who are employed and managed by IRHH.

2007 has been a very strong fundraising year for the Foundation and we thought it appropriate to recognise this final milestone for the year.

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Pepper Youth perform at the Tring Festival of Light

Members of Tring Pepper Youth braved the elements on Friday 30 November 2007 to attend the Tring Festival of Light and entertain passers by with their singing and musicality. Despite the driving rain, which meant they couldn’t use half their instruments or microphones, the group – consisting of Tom Halden, Bevan Morley, Andy Douthwaite and Emma Clark – rose to the challenge as their acoustics were greatly appreciated by everyone who attended the Festival. The head teacher of Tring Arts Ed even commented on the high standard and professionalism of PY!

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