At our fabulous Glitter Ball earlier this year, we were lucky enough to have all the prizes in our raffle and auction donated to us, including a private wine tasting with Olly Smith which took place this week in Brighton.
Andrew and Karen Hookway were the winners of this fabulous prize and were really looking forward to meeting Olly and finding out more about his favourite wines.

Olly with Andrew
Andrew, Managing Director of Extech Cloud Consulting, said, “We looked through all the prizes at the Ball and Karen saw this one and really wanted to win it. The bidding went higher and higher, but she just said, keep going, keep going!
“And then the first thing she did when we knew we had been successful was to contact our children to let them know we had won.”
Andrew and Karen were incredibly generous, bidding £1,350 for this amazing prize generously donated by Olly, a multi-award-winning broadcaster, wine expert, TV personality, author and columnist.
At the event itself, tasking place in a beautiful room kindly provided by Hotel du Vin in Brighton, Andrew, Karen and their children were treated to some of the best wines from Olly’s collection.
Explaining the format of the evening Olly said, “I was absolutely thrilled by the generous bid from Andrew. He has basically won some of my favourite wines directly from my personal cellar. And me, he gets me as well!
“I’m going to open about seven or eight bottles of wine, all of which have the theme in common that I absolutely love them. I’ve kept them for years and they taste completely splendid. And they should bring them unlimited joy. “

Olly talks through his first wine selection
Olly began the evening with a bottle of his favourite fizz, Breaky Bottom, that he had kept in his cellar for 15 years. He took his time to talk about how the vineyard, based near Lewes, grows their grapes and produces their product, along with answering questions from Andrew and Karen.
The group then moved on to try two white wines, two red wines and even some port to finish off their experience.
Olly has been supporting Rockinghorse for many years, becoming one of our Ambassadors earlier this year. Talking about his support, Olly said, “I’ve seen first-hand the care given to my own children. We’re so very grateful for the support over the years and have benefited from absolutely superb care at the Royal Alex.
“So, we’re always feeling super grateful for the good work that Rockinghorse does and really want to help draw attention to it.”
Andrew has also been a long-term supporter of the charity, attending Rockinghorse events with Karen and helping out where he can.
We are so grateful to Olly for offering this amazing prize, and for Karen and Andrew for bidding at the Glitter Ball. Because every prize is donated it means every single penny that people bid goes directly to supporting babies, children and young people in your community.
So, if you are a local business and might be able to donate a prize for one of our events, your support would be incredibly welcome.
And remember, by coming along to one of our events and bidding on a prize, you’re also helping us carry on our vital work for years to come!
To find our what events we have coming up, just click the link below.