Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - Triumph Press Release - Total Motorcycle - www.totalmotorcycle.com
A fundraising event was held on the evening of 22 November 2006 in support of a United Nations campaign to ‘End Fistula’. The event, held at the exclusive Nobu restaurant in London’s Berkeley Street, was organised by Virgin Unite, the charity arm of the Virgin group, and was hosted by Natalie Imbruglia. Chart-topping singer/songwriter KT Tunstall provided the entertainment throughout the evening, which was attended by over 200 celebrity and VIP guests including Louise and Jamie Redknapp, Elle McPherson, Yasmin Le Bon, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Sir Bob Geldof and Greg Rusedski.
To support the fundraising event, Triumph donated two bikes, a Rocket III and a Bonneville, the paintwork for which was designed by Richard Branson and fashion designer Patrick Cox respectively. The Rocket III was auctioned at the event and received a final bid of £17,000 however Branson announced during the auction that he was going to double all final bids, meaning that the Rocket III raised £34,000 for the campaign. Patrick Cox’s Bonneville is to be given away via a competition (details to be confirmed), with all proceeds going to help the charity.
The fundraising event was a huge success, raising, in total, over £500,000 for the ‘End Fistula’ campaign.
Fistula is a devastating condition caused by prolonged childbirth that currently affects around 2 million women in the Third World, despite the fact that a simple operation costing £170 can fully treat it. All the funds raised from Virgin Unite’s charity event will go to a project in a very disadvantaged area in Northern Nigeria that will help to treat sufferers, upgrade the health facilities in the area and help to educate the entire community about fistula.