'THE THAILAND TRIO' HOLD THEIR FIRST THEMED CHARITY EVENT

FRIDAY 3rd May marked the start of some major fundraising for @womenVcancer. 

Tracie Gunningham, Lynda Penny and Zayli Gunningham hosted an Audrey & Elvis fundraiser at the Plymouth Venue (Plymouth’s up and coming function space used for weddings and parties) 

PPT

All guests were encouraged to come dressed as a version of ‘Audrey or Elvis’ the guests didn’t disappoint!! Everyone who attended made an outstanding effort helping ‘set the scene’ and adding to the various themed props which were dotted around the venue. 

The evening started with welcome drinks supplied by Plymouth Gin, followed by Marks Summers as Elvis who had the guests up dancing, working up an appetite ready for the gastronomic American themed buffet . 

The food was plentiful and very tasty!! 

The doughnut wall was the perfect ‘help yourself’ pudding supplied by Edible Essence an award winning cake decorator and supplier. 

The guests had the option to enter the raffle for £5 and the total raised was £275. 

Tracie Gunningham publicly thanked the local companies and friends for their generous support and donations.  Listed as below.

Welcome drink - Plymouth Gin

Table runners and candelabras - Vanda and Bill 

Cupcakes - Helen Brann 

Doughnut wall - Edible Essence 

Car prop - Kevan Kennedy 

Slow cookers - Heather Nail, Sharon Everson, Claire Felton, Helen 

Hot plate - Egi Tracey Rebeiro 

Silverware - Egi 

Chocolate Lollies- Annemarie West 

Guitars-John Penny

Design- Ian Gunningham 

Prop making - Zayli Gunningham 

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO DONATED A RAFFLE PRIZE FOR OUR EVENT

TAKE A LOOK AT THE PICTURES TAKEN ON THE NIGHT BY HAWK EYE PHOTOGRAPHY

Everyone had a super time.. but the night was yet young. No time to sit down.. time to ‘rock n roll’ Kevan Kennedy and Julie baker from the Lemonfrog dance company delivered a basic ‘jive’ lesson.. it was so much fun and EVERYONE was smiling and wondering at their new found skill. 

The guest then spent the evening dancing to party tunes. 

A donation of 50 breakfast at Tiffany themed cupcakes were made and donated by Helen Brann (a good friend of Tracie’s) and displayed on a stand, loaned from Drake’s jewellers.

The cupcake toppers were all hand-cut out by Tracie’s lifelong friend Annemarie West..

making these a great little ‘take home’ gift. 

The total profit raised and donated to the charity totalled £1365.

The ‘Thailand Trio’ are ‘ecstatic’ with the success of their first event.

Just wanted to share just one of the lovely messages we received after the event.

Hi Tracey, I'd just like to say that.......Your Charity event was absolutely incredible! ..You all created THE Most perfect evening on Saturday .. what with the decor, buffet,  your guests were lovely, so friendly & fun...& Mark as Elvis,  mingling on the dance floor! Wow! ...an amazing  combination of Elvis Presley & Audrey Hepburn! ..there wasn't one lady in the room who didn't imagine they were the real Audrey!! Haha .. admittedly I felt her spirit too! You looked fabulous.....I wish you all the very best in your fundraising in the future, & I hope there will be more events like that one in the future too.. I'm not on facebook but I wanted to tell you how Matthew & I so enjoyed the experience,....and tell your husband, for me to win the best prize in the raffle was amazing too...the toolkit!!! Haha ...thankyou .. 

FUTURE FUND RAISING EVENTS

PUB QUIZ on Saturday 14th September at 7pm. It’s being held at The Fortesque Pub on Mutley Plain.

TICKETS £10 more info here https://www.facebook.com/events/2574843772742254/

SILENT DISCO on Saturday 5th October at 7pm . The Plymouth Venue, Victoria House, Peverell.

TICKETS £15 more info here https://www.facebook.com/events/1167252536770694/

THIS DYNAMIC TRIO ARE FUND RAISING FOR WOMEN V CANCER

As March marks ‘OVARIAN CANCER AWARENESS’ MONTH it brings about the focus to think about why 3 of Envy’s team member’s have signed up to CYCLE THAILAND IN 2020, raising money for Womenvcancer which supports three women’s cancer charities. Ovarian Cancer action. Breast Cancer Care and Jo’s Cervical Trust.

Being that is is ‘Ovarian Cancer Awareness’ month the link to the charity can be found here.

https://ovarian.org.uk/

This Thailand trio made up of Zayli Gunningham (salon assistant) Tracie Gunningham (salon owner) and Lynda Penny (salon manager) have signed up to cycle 413 km from Bangkok to Ko Samui in October 2020.

THE ROUTE

THE CYCLE THAILAND TRIO

In this picture one person has had Ovarian Cancer Stage 4 but thankfully has been 4 and half years clear, one person has had pre cancerous cells of the cervix and the youngest one has had relatives on both sides who has had a ‘women’s’ cancer.

 It’s of no surprise that the recent family and friend losses, inspired each one of the girls to sign up, to raise much needed money to help fund research and also support women and their families that have the disease.

The statistics of ovarian cancer are scarily high.

IT KILLS 1 WOMAN EVERY 2 HRS IN THE UK,

90% OF WOMEN DON’T KNOW THE 4 SYMPTOMS-

STRUGGLING TO EAT,

BLOATING,

STOMACH PAIN,

WEEING MORE

BE AWARE- #ovaryact #ovarianaction.

The Thailand Trio are hosting a series of fund raising events over the next coming months.

The first big event is an ‘Audrey and Elvis’ themed party. Think ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s meets Viva Las Vegas’.

£30 a ticket will get you

Entry, a welcome drink, an American themed buffet, entertainment from the AMAZING Mark Summers the UKs Official Number One Elvis Tribute, winner of the National Tribute Music Awards 2018, Kevan Kennedy from the Lemonfrog Dance Company, will be delivering a ‘basic’ jive dance lesson, to set the mood for the rest of the evening. It will be a fantastic evening and a great way to raise money for the charity. All profit will be donated.

TICKETS ARE LIMITED SO BE QUICK, (Mark’s last gig in Plymouth was a SELL OUT)

BUY YOUR TICKETS HERE - https://www.facebook.com/events/2324467104452545/

To read about the teams individual reasons for signing up, take a look at their just giving pages.

Zayli Gunningham- https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/zayli-gunningham1 

Lynda Penny- https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/lynda-penny

Tracie Gunningham- https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tracie-gunningham4

BOLLYWOOD SUMMER PARTY IS A HUGE SUCCESS

On Saturday 14th July Tracie Gunningham owner of Envy, hosted a charity Bollywood Summer Party.  The event was held at The Plymouth Venue, Victoria House in the heart of Plymouth. 

The party was a huge success raising a total of £2900 for women V cancer, cycle India challenge 2018. 

Tracie Gunningham said 'The venue was the 'perfect' space to host the event' it had so many areas in which to 'decorate' and create a real 'Bollywood feel'. 

Tracie had a strict colour theme in mind, purple, pink, orange, gold, turquoise.

The event was a 'sell out' and Tracie said 'It never ceases to amaze me the amount of generosity, people show when it comes to supporting charity, whether it be giving time, donations, raffle or auction prizes' and she recognises that it was only through having 'EVERYONES' support that the event was as successful as it was. 

Tickets cost £20 and included

A welcome drink, an entry ticket into 'Win a weekend at the Scarlet', https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tracie-gunningham2 and indian feast, pudding and plenty of dancing.   

The welcome drink and bar service was provided by Westlake events. 

Tracie started planning the event in April 2018 and knew she would need help to ensure costs were kept to a minimum in order to raise the maximum she could for the charity.

Tracie appealed for help from friends and family and reached out via social media for help with various props. 

Her first ask was for jars, any shape any size, that she could colour and then hand decorate to turn into t light lanterns for the tables. Tracie coloured and decorated over 70 jars.

The second ask was for cushions, this was to create a floor level seating area in the Raj tent. Tracie's mum went and bought loads from charity shops, staff, clients and Tracie's dance friends came up trumps again producing enough cushions to create the look.  Kevan Kennedy the owner of the Plymouth Venue donated some left over material which would then match the drapes in the Raj tent area.  Tracie then set about making cushion covers to help keep the theme. Having used all the material the last few cushion covers came from Drake's Jewellers store room courtesy Monique Hirshman, a recent store refurb meant they had some old luxury velour cushion covers that could be put to good use, along with a flower display, gigantic gold baubles and gold sequin table covers to add to that Bollywood bling.

Tracie wanted to break the eye line of the ceiling height in the venue and sourced some indian umbrellas to hang upside down over the tables, they looked beautiful. 

More handmade props made by Tracie and her 'bollywood angels'  included a colourful sign post, the table plan and a decorated mountain bike. 

On the evening guests were greeted with soft entrance music provided by Steve Whiteway. 

The Indian food was sponsored by Creative Direction IG and cooked by Jaipur Palace, served by Tracie and Ian Gunningham.

The menu was chicken tikka masala, chicken bhuna, channa masala, sag aloo, vegetable bhajis, naan and poppadoms.

After dinner and during pudding there was an auction which raised £360, massive thanks to Martin Roberts who enthusiastically pushed up the bidding on various items donated by Id Fashion, Field Accounting, Admin Angel, Julia Ford, Aunty Hazel. 

The Raffle raised a total of £600. 

After the auction guest were 'encouraged' to take part in a 'Bollywood dance routine' choreographed by Tracie Gunningham with the professional help of Julie Baker (a dance teacher at The Lemon Frog Dance Company)  It was an energetic and a FUN routine which seemed to be enjoyed by everyone.  

A flash mob was sent out a week before to encourage guest to learn the routine before the event. 

Guest were also encouraged to take home a 'Bollywood' cup cake made and donated by Helen Brann. 

Tracie said that 'she was genuinely thrilled with the amount of effort people had put into their costumes and for people supporting the event and the charity'. 

Tracie would like to publicly thank everyone who played a part in this amazing event. 

Tracie is now getting back into her cycle training, as she needs to be super lean and fit by November 2018 in order to be ready to take on and complete her cycle challenge.  

Tracie is still raising money for the charity,  to find out more or to donate you can click the link here. 

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tracie-gunningham1

Thank you to Nige at Hawk Eye Photography for capturing the whole evening. Great photography, check out his facebook page for all the images. 

TRACIE GUNNINGHAM TAKES ON STRICTLY CHALLENGE AND 'NAILED IT'

Tracie started her dance journey on the 24th of February 2017, after being volunteered by Shelley Coleman, to perform a ‘strictly style’ dance routine in front of 300 people for Plymouth Ladies Club Charity.

Her partner was the owner of the Lemon Frog Dance Company, Kevan Kennedy.

Her first lesson was an initial assessment, to see whether she had any natural dance ability, and more to her horror, to see whether or not, she could be lifted! 
The first few weeks consisted of working out the routine, timing to the music and the likes and dislikes of certain moves. Tracie soon learnt that even the basic moves were going to be a lot harder to learn than initially thought. 
To help speed up her learning, she enrolled on group dance lessons at the Lemon Frog, that included Salsa and Tango.
Ten weeks on from her first dance lesson, she had lost over a stone in weight and dropped a dress size, due to increased exercise and the thought of performing in front of 300 people.

Tracie was really starting to struggle with nerves at this stage too and enlisted the help of a mindfulness coach, Jackie Taylor. 
Jackie taught Tracie some techniques to help calm her nerves and keep the anxiety under control. Techniques such as meditation, visualisation, mindful pauses and anchoring to name a few.

THE BTS VIDEO 'IN TRAINING'. 

Take a look at Tracie's personal reflection in this short video below. 

DRESS REHEARSAL AT THE LEMON FROG DANCE COMPANY

photographs By Emma Barrow. 

Weekly sessions with Kevan and Jackie, led to  a 'runner up' placement at The Plymouth Ladies Charity Club Strictly Come Dancing Ball. 

Tracie said 'I didn't expect to win, however I achieved my goal, I performed my routine from start to finish, I was composed and confident, I was happy with my performance'.  

Kevan at The Lemon Frog, choreographed the dance, took Tracie from a non dancer to a dancer. 

Tracie said  'he’s an amazing teacher and has made the lessons fun and enjoyable, but above all he has been patient and encouraging'.

The evening was well attended.

Tracie and Kevan received lots of encouragement from family, friends, the ‘Envy Team’, clients and Lemon Frog members who all came along to support the charity.