Mary Reid

How to raise £2500 for charity in half an hour... ask all the pupils, parents and friends of the school to submit their own works of art for an auction. Then watch as parents bid up to £100 to buy their own children's paintings! 

It was a brilliant concept, developed by Sharon Mehta for St Pauls' Junior School and Alexandra Infants. And it was given a real boost when Quentin Blake and Jacqueline Wilson were identified as friends who had submitted drawings to be auctioned.

The event was in aid of two local cancer charity appeals - Kingston Can and Momentum. We  all know about the first, but Momentum supports children with cancer in Surrey and surrounding areas. They are sponsoring a mosiac by Save the World Club for the paediatric ward at Kingston Hopsital.

The inspiration for this evening was the courage shown by two children who are undergoing treatment for cancer at the moment - one a current pupil and the other a former pupil at the school. I was privileged to meet them. 

I won the bid for this splendid mosaic panel created by Karen Parry, the Save the World Club artist.