Alex van Heeren, Owner of Huka Lodge, recently gave Taupo’s world-renowned retreat, all its staff, and facilities to CatWalk Spinal Injury Trust to use for a fabulous fund raising event held on the weekend of 04-05 September 2010.
Guests enjoyed activities hosted by celebrity presenters – a beauty & style workshop with top stylists Stephen Marr & Lucy Vincent Marr, Artist Dick Frizzell spoke of his work and Winemaker Rod McDonald led a tutored tasting of Frizzell Wines. Restaurateurs and television presenters Al Brown and Steve Logan hosted trout fishing on Lake Taupo with Chris Jolly Outdoors and horse trekking/clay bird shooting at Karen & Wally Niederer’s Harakeke Farm. Huka Lodge masseuses also donated their time to provide a variety of relaxing in-room massage treatments for guests.
During the evening guests gathered for a gala dinner prepared by Executive Chef Michel Louws and his team, featuring five superb courses complemented by fine wines donated by top wineries for the event. Entertainment and much hilarity was guaranteed by the presence of mystery guest comedian Rhys Darby and pianist Tony Phelps provided music into the small hours.
On Sunday morning, while guests were breakfasting, a helicopter landed on the Lodge lawn and James Blake, (son of the late Sir Peter Blake), emerged carrying a video message of thanks from CatWalk patrons Zara Philips and Mark Todd.
This generous initiative from Alex van Heeren received an overwhelming level of response from CatWalk supporters with many local businesses donating goods and services to ensure CatWalk received every dollar of the ticket price for the event.
Founder of CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury Trust Catriona Williams had this to say “Gifts like this are quite unprecedented for a charity like ours and we can only thank Alex van Heeren from the bottom of our hearts for making this all possible. The sum raised will do so much to further our efforts to support research into a cure for spinal cord injury”.
