International news 

Art Auction

CLEFT is delighted to report that the art auction of works by artist and sculptor, Rana Begum, raised an astonishing sum of £110,000 for CLEFT! This is the largest sum ever raised from one event. Rana Begum along with friend and art collector, Ghada al-Bahar, organised the auction which took place at Christies auction house in London. A total of ten artworks were donated including two works by Rana herself. Potential buyers were invited to dinner before the auction to an exclusive preview of the works in Rana’s studio.

          

Above left: The first of Rana Begum's donated pieces.

Above right: (pictured from left to right) Matthew Krishanu, Ghada Al-Bahar, Brian Sommerlad, Rana Begum and Richard Allan.

The money raised at the auction is committed to improving cleft care in Bangladesh. Back in August this year, Brian Sommerlad visited Bangladesh and made trips to both Khulna (Khulna Hospital pictured in the banner) in the south and Mymensingh in the north, to see how this money could be used to benefit children born with clefts. In both places, there is little provision for follow up care for cleft patients - no speech and language therapy or orthodontic care, both critical disciplines in the treatment of a child with cleft lip and palate. 

The proposal for both places is to start off by paying for a co-ordinator - an essential team member who can liaise with patients and team members and to help facilitate the appointments and treatment schedules. We are also looking at providing some essential equipment such as surgical instruments and sutures as well as some basic anaesthetic equipment. 

We will continue to update you on these developments over the coming months.

Formal Dinner 

The dinner was another very enjoyable event which raised around £1000 for CLEFT. It was held in the lovely Queen Elizabeth Dining Room at the Civil Service Club in central London and guests enjoyed a three-course meal with wine and enjoyed the after-dinner speech by Sarah Goodie, teacher and friend to CLEFT.

 (Pictured above Gwyneth and Brian Sommerlad, Mark and Franziska Dwyer)

Royal Parks Half Marathon (RPHM)

CLEFT’s half-marathon season ended with five runners in the RPHM. The weather was superb - sunny but cool – which meant that it was a very enjoyable run. Here are two of our runners after the event.

Fundraising challenge events

We have just one place left in the BMW Berlin Marathon which takes place in September 2023. If you would like to take up the challenge of this event, you can book by clicking the link below

BMW Berlin Marathon 2023 | Cleft