June 2, 2015

Live Your Life

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imageAnother emotionally charged day which began shortly before I read a hospitality industry newswire. The headline ‘Story of the Day’ read:

“Keith Knowles becomes chairman of Yummy Pub Company and donates his salary to the Live Your Life charity partnership with Team Margot.”

This very touching gesture is a follow up to Keith’s ‘Live Your Life Day’ initiative, whereby employees in his business are given a day off work on 30 July each year to spend it however they wish. To live their life. Should they opt to do something charitable, then 5 of those initiatives will receive a donation from him by way of support.

Furthermore, every 30 July will be a Live Your Life Day when Beds and Bars supports a charitable initiative & this year Team Margot Foundation is to be that charity.

More details to follow nearer the time !

imageimageLater in the day, I attended the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) Summer Event & Annual Lunch where the pub industry again came out in support of what we are doing.

Clare Balding & then Sir Clive Woodward both spoke passionately, about women’s equality and building winning teams respectively. And I was invited to tell several hundred people about the need for more stem cell donors.

Special thanks go to Tim Hulme, CEO of the BII and also Anthony Pender it’s chairman for choosing Team Margot Foundation as the charity to benefit from the fundraiser, which raised a handsome £6,456.07.

Chesca Knowles (centre) with the Live Your Life award, surrounded by her family (l to r): Jan, Zhen, Luke, Sophie & Keith

Chesca Knowles (centre) with the Live Your Life award, surrounded by her family (l to r): Jan, Zhen, Luke, Sophie & Keith

But in spite of all that, the highlight for me was the tribute paid to my late friend, Franca Knowles for her outstanding work, achievements & contributions to the industry. Sadly, Franca passed away just a couple of weeks after Margot, following a 12 year battle with her brain tumour. The Live Your Life Award was presented to Franca’s daughter, Chesca amidst a standing ovation.

Franca adopted the phrase Live Your Life several years back and it has become a company trademark of Beds and Bars and also a behavioural trait.

This really resonates with me, not least because in her own way, Margot did much the same – she really loved life and she spent as much time & energy as she could playing and enjoying her life to the fullest extent possible.

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Thank you so much again to everyone who attended the BII lunch today, for listening and for your generosity.

Vicki & I with Franca, Jan & Zhen in Beijing in October 2011

Vicki & I with Franca, Jan & Zhen in Beijing in October 2011

If you haven’t done so already, please check out how to register and then remember to pass on your postcard and / or wristband to someone else who isn’t already aware.

Thank you.

Team Margot
Together, saving lives

Husband to Vicki and father to Oscar (2007), Rufus (2008), Digby (2015), Humphrey (2017) & Margot (2012-2014)

Posted in: Journal