Stirling Moss at MHFs London fundraiser

Posted on October 1st, 2007

The legendary British racing driver Sir Stirling Moss OBE provided a highly memorable flying start to the evening’s proceeding’s at the Royal Automobile Club on Tuesday 2nd October 2007, the venue for The Muscular Help Foundation’s (MHF’s) inaugural London fundraiser.

Nearly £5000 was raised from the auction which included a signed print depicting ‘Mr Motor Racing’ himself in his Aston Martin DBR1 lying third behind Wolfgang Von Trips’ Ferrari and Jean Behra’s Porche. The ‘Targa Florio’ (auction item 2/210) by Alfred De La Maria fetched a magnificent £375 from a private bid received by SMS text from Los Angeles.

“Sir Stirling arrived dead on time. He spoke passionately about the ‘Targa Florio’ and generously agreed to answer a number of questions from guests including I recall one about Lewis Hamilton and his F1 title hope chances. As the best motor racing driver never to win the World Championship, Sir Stirling is arguably the greatest all-round racing driver of all time … perhaps one day our Lewis will be described in this way,” said MHF’s CEO Michael McGrath.

He goes to say, “When speaking with Sir Stirling by phone on the Sunday before our Royal Automobile Club event, I impulsively asked whether he needed directions to the Club in Pall Mall – what I didn’t know was that he is one of the longest standing members … hindsight is a great thing! As for the event, I know that for many of the 100 or so invited guests that included friends of the charity Babs Powell (from the 60’s dance troupe Pans People) who had just returned from having successfully climed Mt Kilimanjaro and fellow polar pal Pen Hadow, Sir Stirling’s warm personality and kind words added a very special touch to the evening and will be remembered for a long time to come”.

Ryan and Chris sporting the new Muscle sash

Special thanks must also go to GMTV’s Lorraine Kelly for her continued advocacy and especially for her kind message of support recorded to camera at the London Television Studio’s on the morning of the event. MHF also extends its appreciation to all those who gave of their time on a voluntary basis in helping with the planning and organisation of the event – particular thanks to Jane Finnerty and Tish Hanifan, to Nick Ryan and Roger Tarleton of Ideal Integration who provided the IT support and plasma screens, to the event’s official photographer Vicky Haverson and to those including Tom, Jake, Chris and Ryan who hosted on the evening.

Auction prizes included everything from breakfast with Lorraine Kelly, a number of luxurious weekend breaks in luxury hotels, a limited edition photograph signed by Pele, John Lewis gift vouchers, two professional gardeners for a day and even a motivational speaker engagement by the charities inspirational CEO Michael McGrath who is in demand as a speaker both in the UK and overseas.

“Muscleman” poster attracts £220 in cash donations

Out of a total of thirty-eight (38) auction lot items, thirty-two (32) items were successfully bid on. To see the official auction programme, please click here – additionally, £220 in cash was posted on the charities muscleman poster (pictured above) and three (3) online private donations were made totalling £350. In total, £4,686.00 was raised from this first-ever London fundraiser which the charity is delighted to announce will be repeated at the Royal Automobile Club again in 2008.

Funds raised from this event will go towards the fulfilment of Muscle Dreams enabling children and young adults with muscular dystrophy the opportunity to live a dream, or perhaps fulfil a cherished ambition.

Help us realise more Muscle Dreams

Michael McGrath realised his own unique Muscle Dream in January 2004 and in doing so, made history by becoming the only disabled person in the world to have reached both the North and South Poles – Michael himself has muscular dystrophy – this is a complex muscle wasting disease which remains the single biggest genetic killer of children in our world today.

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