'Tis The Season To Buy Diamonds
‘Tis The Season To Buy Diamonds Jeremy France Jewellers Host VIP Festive Fundraiser
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Special celebrity guest, James Murray, was in attendance representing the Murray Parish Trust, a local charity that Jeremy France Jewellers have been proudly supporting this year.
The Grade 2* listed building, situated at the very heart of historic Winchester’s bustling High Street, was decked to impress. Little of the shop remained untouched by the festive spirit as the decadent decorations also extended up through the gallery, with huge suspended Christmas wreaths visible from each level of the stunning three-storey showroom. With a traditional nutcracker theme running throughout and every detail adorned in beautiful bespoke decorations, the shop had been sprinkled with sparkle - the perfect intimate venue for festive shopping.
Arriving via red carpet with champagne in hand, guests were whisked into the classiest of Christmas grottos around. Upstairs, clients were getting into the party spirit, having a shot at the Tin Can Alley, taking a spin of Deakin and Francis’ spinning top cufflinks challenge, and sipping away on festive champagne cocktails in the top floor champagne bar. Taking centre stage on the ground floor, was the enormous three-dimensional Advent Calendar Chalet, stuffed with over £10,000 worth of stocking fillers. In return for a donation made to the Murray Parish Trust, guests retrieved a numbered bauble from the lucky dip, each one guaranteed to open a door to the advent calendar. Luxury prizes hidden behind each door included a stunning £1500 18ct gold Fope bracelet, a night for two at the Ritz, a luxury gift set from The White Company, a dinner for two at Loch Fyne and a day’s Go Karting! Winners of the enviable night at the Ritz, Mr and Mrs Dymond, were blown away by their prize, and we couldn’t have hoped for a more fitting name to associate with the evening!
Special celebrity guest, James Murray, was in attendance representing the Murray Parish Trust, a local charity that Jeremy France Jewellers have been proudly supporting this year.
The Charity Advent Chalet was an enormous success, raising not only Christmas spirits, but also a fantastic £1340 for the worthy cause. Astonishingly, a very kind benefactor on the evening chose to match the funds raised by the Chalet, bringing the total amount to £2680! And the Christmas giving didn’t end there, oh no! James Murray drew the Diamond Raffle at the end of the night; a raffle that had commenced at the Murray Parish Trust’s Odd Ball a couple of weeks earlier and continued throughout the evening of the 1st, raising over £2500. The lucky winner, Lara Allan, was the proud new owner of a loose D colour half carat diamond worth £3000, plus £500 towards setting it into a bespoke piece of jewellery, courtesy of Jeremy France. At the end of the evening, Jeremy also presented James with a cheque for an incredible £6561.95 – the total amount raised by Jeremy France Jewellers for the Murray Parish Trust so far, and only the start of what the team hopes to raise in months to come.
Married actors Sarah Parish and James Murray founded the Murray Parish Trust in 2014, after the tragic loss of their baby daughter, Ella-Jayne, in 2009. The couple felt an overpowering need to help the people that had made the short time they’d had with their daughter possible.
“There is only one way to numb the pain of losing a child and that is to help other children. To try and make a difference to their lives and help give them the future they deserve.”
Having already successfully raised over £300,000 to expand Southampton General Hospital’s Paediatric Intensive Care unit where Ella-Jayne spent most of her short life, the charity has now set its sights even higher. Their nationwide #2millionsteps campaign to raise £2 million for a state-of-the-art Children’s Emergency and Trauma unit at Southampton General Hospital has been backed by George Osborne, and has promised the government will match every penny raised. The new £4 million department will become a major trauma centre, delivering life-saving acute specialist care for critically ill children from across the whole of the South of England - nine different counties, stretching from Devon to West Sussex, Oxfordshire to The Channel Islands.
To find out more, please visit: www.jeremyfrancejewellers.co.uk
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