The Brancaster Ball took place on 15th October 2022, at Frensham Hall, Farnham.
It was an evening of fun and fundraising in support of the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation.
The Brancaster Ball was founded by James Clarke; husband of Lottie, father of three, and Proprietary Partner at Knight Frank.
In late 2021, following numerous appointments, James was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease (MND). As you can imagine, it was a shock to James and his family. However with their love and support, and the help of his team at Knight Frank, James has been given the strength to face this challenge head on, and come out fighting.
MND is an incredibly rare disease and only 1,100 people get diagnosed each year. The general medical consensus is that it is not incurable, it is just underfunded. So to that end, James is now sending out the rallying cry to family, friends, colleagues and business associates to help with some crazy fundraising challenges to help rectify that!
James and his friends have already raised over £200,000 since he started fundraising at the beginning of July this year, which he is delighted with - but it has also spurred him on to do more! The aim is to hit a target of £250,000 before the year is out!
All funds raised from James’ charitable challenges will go towards the Doddie Weir charity - ‘My Name’5 Doddie’. Doddie was one of rugby’s most recognisable personalities, earning 61 caps for Scotland and representing the British and Irish Lions. In June 2017 he revealed was suffering from Motor Neuron Disease and, from the outset, has been driven to help fellow sufferers and seek ways to further research this rare disease.
The Brancaster Ball was one such charitable fundraiser… James knew that ticket sales and a charitable auction at the ball would bolster his funds for Doddie… and it was of course also a great excuse for a party!
What’s The Brancaster Ball?
The Brancaster Ball is named after Brancaster Beach in Norfolk, a favourite holiday spot for James and his family.
The Shipwright’s Way Charity Cycle Ride
On 1st July, James led an intrepid team of 23 riders and 9 roadside support helpers along the ‘Shipwright’s Way’ - a 50 mile cycle and ramblers route that retraces the path used in the 18th Century by shipwrights to transport over 3,000 prime oaks from Alice Holt Forest to Portsmouth, where the timber was used to build ships such as HMS Victory.
James’ chosen direction was from the coast inland, ending - to the relief of the riders - at the Binstead Inn public house, where many a celebratory drink was had… not least because the team managed to raise over £75,000 in sponsorship, which has since been very generously matched by Knight Frank, James’ employer.
In the words of Lottie, James’ wife, after the cycle:
“The last few months of our life have been all about dates… 15/12/21 clinical suspicion MND, 9/2/22 confirmed diagnosis MND.
During those first few weeks the world as we knew it literally fell apart. We staggered around in a daze supported by the handful of friends and family we had confided in.
At Easter James made one of the toughest decisions of his life to step back from the role at Knight Frank that he had loved, lived and breathed for the last few years. We had to break the news to our kids that life was changing and the future that we had always taken for granted was now suddenly looking very different.
The emotions have been overwhelming, the fear, anger, resentment and grief on occasion knocking us so hard that we’ve felt it impossible to carry on.
Fast forward to 1/7/22 this gorgeous man jumped on a bike and cycled 50 miles surrounded by the most amazing crew of friends and family driven by the need to raise funds to stop other families having to travel this awful journey.
[The day] was truly humbling and to see the man I love being supported by so many wonderful people was for the first time a win against the fight for MND. There are of course dark days ahead and this we know but for now let’s all ride high on the emotions of yesterday.
Words taken from a great friend ‘wear the dress, buy the car, book the holiday’ (& now he’s managed to cycle 50 miles he can unpack the bloody dishwasher again).”
