Lisa’s Dream event raises over £11,000

A very emotional 40th birthday party and gala dinner at Solent University raised over £11,000 for charity benefitting the Lisa Wilson Scholarship Fund.

On Friday evening, one hundred and twenty special guests attended the gala dinner in honor of Lisa who would have been 40 years old on March 15th. The guests included Vice Chancellor Graham Baldwin from SolentUniversity, some of Lisa’s school, college and uni friends, plus family members and other special guests. The evening was packed with tributes and video of Lisa on her journey around the world.

A raffle auction and silent auction took place raising in excess of £11,000 for the charity. Many celebrities had donated memorabilia, including honary doctotare from the university Craig David who donated a guitar used on the making of his last album.

There was cabaret from Lucie Campbell who has previously been supported by the charity, plus Martin Murphy and his daughter Danni. Comedian and impressionist Mike Osman hosted the evening and did the second half of the show as ‘The Donald’ Trump, followed by dancing to Abba Rival to round the night off, as Lisa has always been a ‘Dancing Queen.

It was an incredible evening, and wonderful to see so many supporters of the charity.

To date we have raised over £290,000, and some ninety seven students have benefitted from the charity. As every £1000 represents a year in a student’s life, Lisa’s Legacy has now become 290 years of education.

Lisa Wilson Graduate Prize for Millie Vincent

At Southampton Solent’s Graduation Ceremony on July 11th, Millie Vincent was presented with her award for Outstanding Achievement by Clive Wilson. Millie Graduated with a BA (Hons) Media Culture and Production with First Class Honours.

At a very hot ceremony at the Guildhall Southampton, two Honorary Doctorates were also awarded; Sean Yazbeck – a former student who went onto win the ‘The Apprentice” USA and is now CEO of several technology companies in the United States – was made an Honorary Doctor of  Business, and John Wilson ACE – one of Britain’s leading well film editors who has received a Bafta for Downton Abbey and gained two HPA awards and two Emmy nominations plus many other Film and TV credits – was made a Doctor of Arts.

Bursary recipient Lucy Campbell

Here is a video clip of Lucie Campbell, one of our students we funded in her bid to work on stage. Lucy is now a lead vocalist onboard Aida Cruises ships. Here she is, performing Blondie’s “Call Me” during a Baltic cruise in June 2015. She has come a long way and we are very proud of her achievements.

New bursary awarded to veterinary student

Mandela Photo

Following an application from Mandela Lewis the charity has decided to support her in her quest to become a veterinarian. In 2012 Mandela graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in London with a 2:1degree in bioveterinary science. She has now enrolled in the Veterinary Science Degree Course at the University of Liverpool where she is taking an accelerated course that will last four years. We are proud to be able to help her fulfill her educational dreams in the way that Lisa did and wish her every success in her career development.

 

 

9th Lisa Wilson Golf Day record success

The ninth Lisa Wilson Golf Day took place at Wellow Golf Club in Hampshire on Saturday July 30th.  124 members played in the main competition and some 36 friends and guests participated in the guests’ competition. The weather was perfect for golf, very still, no rain, and at about 2.30pm glorious sunshine lit up the entire golf course.

As usual, it was a strongly contested event; Jim Hatball won the men’s trophy, Chris Batt won the ladies’, with Max Leigh winning the Junior and Students’ competition. For the guests, Andy West beat off all challengers to win on his first time playing, and Wendy Stoddard managed to win the ladies’ trophy.

In the evening some 200 people filled the clubhouse for the prize giving. Clive Wilson thanked everyone for the amazing turnout and fantastic financial support which saw the charity bring in over £8000 with the raffle and silent auction – a record for the event.

Following the prize-giving, Lucie Campbell–the latest student to receive a bursary from the charity–sang two numbers on her solo debut. The second song ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ was dedicated to Lisa as one of her favorite songs when she was little. The atmosphere was gripping and extremely moving as Lucie completed her second number. She is a bright talent who touched everyone’s heart on the night. It is hoped that Lucie will go on to fulfill her dreams of becoming a West End leading lady.

Lucie Campbell performs at the 2011 Lisa Wilson Golf Day

Following the formalities, everyone was entertained by the Tribute Show who did two one hour slots with really brilliant performances as Freddie Mercury, Robbie Williams, Cher, Madonna, and Kylie, to name just a few. They really were the best act to date and the dance floor was buzzing until well past midnight.

This event brought the money raised by the charity to £218,000, a fantastic legacy to Lisa, which amounts to over 200 years of education.