New Year fundraiser by Twilight’s supporters in the south

Twilight is lucky to have fantastic supporters located all over France and the UK, and, in fact, worldwide. One such group is Twilight Puivert, based in department 11 Aude, in the foothills of the French Pyrenees. The mastermind behind the fundraising activities is Debbie, our skilled baker, supported by washer-up in-chief and expert handyman, husband Bryan. Over the years Debbie and Bryan have organised numerous fundraising events, including Christmas fayres, afternoon teas ‘Chez Nous’ and a number of lunch parties. This week we feature a guest post written by Debbie, who tells us all about their recent New Year’s lunch.  

The Twilight Puivert New Year’s Lunch

 We had our first fundraising event of 2020 on Wednesday. It was a lunch at le Moulin de l’Eveque in Rivel, a village about 7km from where I live in Puivert. We have held events there for a few years and it’s a great venue, the owners really do go the extra mile (or kilometre) to help us fundraise for the Twilight Puds.

Our New Year’s lunch welcomed 24 people, many old friends were there and we also had several new faces at the table too, which was nice. It’s always lovely to meet up with our regular, wonderful supporters and yesterday it was great to meet new people who will hopefully want to carry on coming to our events in the future. They were all enthusiastic in praising the work Twilight does and said how happy they were to be able to support us by being at the meal.

We had a super meal as always. We sat on one long table and as I looked along the length of it from my seat nearest to the raffle table it was good to see everyone enjoying themselves, chatting and having fun.

The raffle had some great prizes and, of course, the lucky dip was there too … it goes to all our events! We are so very fortunate that all the prizes for both the raffle and the lucky dip are donated to us. Our supporters are so generous and never fail to ‘dig deep’ when I appeal for items to use. Friends buy tickets and others give us ticket money and don’t take tickets – the level of support we receive is humbling.

I think almost everyone who bought tickets won a prize, indeed some won two or even three. It was fun to watch people leaving trying to balance their winnings in their arms! Hopefully, my warnings of ‘it’s very fragile’ as I handed out the prizes meant that everything arrived home safely!

Unfortunately, one very good friend who had originally booked to come was unable to be with us due to family illness but they gave us a very generous donation which, added to the total raised on the day, meant that we are able to send 420€ to Twilight as the first contribution from Team Puivert for 2020.

Thank you to all our marvellous supporters who were with us, without you our events just couldn’t happen and it is always a joy to see you and share your company at our various do’s. Our next fundraiser will be in February – an afternoon of tea and cakes at our home. I had better start baking and filling the freezer in readiness!