Susan Draper from Putney has been presented with a luxury collection of marine paintings by the artist Michael Frith after winning a lifeboat lottery held in a national chain of seafood restaurants.

The lottery was part of a partnership between the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, 44 Loch Fyne restaurants and Michael Frith, whose work has graced the pages of newspapers and publications around the world. The restaurants ran the raffle to raise money for the RNLI, the charity that saves lives at sea, and amassed a total of £1,057.

Susan entered the raffle while dining in the restaurant in Guildford, Surrey, last year – the same outlet which also sold the most raffle tickets out of all participating restaurants. Michael donated three copies of Yacht, a hand bound, limited edition book of paintings of yachts and other marine scenes, to the RNLI. The RNLI then asked Loch Fyne, an existing corporate fundraising partner of the charity, to sell raffle tickets for the luxury prize.

Susan (pictured left with Michael & Heidi Chapman from the RNLI) met Michael and was officially presented with the book earlier this month. She said:
‘I am delighted to receive the copy of Yacht. It’s a very impressive and attractive body of work and I can think of no place more apt to receive it than at a seafood restaurant. You only enter these things as a bit of fun so it was lovely to actually win it. I am glad the raffle raised what it did for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. For all we know, many of the boats painted by Michael might not even be here today were it not for the lifesaving work of the volunteer crew members on lifeboats.’

Readers of most of the national newspapers will be familiar with the work of Michael Frith, who lives near Chichester, West Sussex, as will thousands of others who have seen his work in more than 20 major exhibitions. In addition to donating the luxury book of his work to the RNLI, he is also donating £40 from the sale of each copy of Yacht to the RNLI, helping to raise even more vital funds for the search and rescue charity.

Heidi Chaplin, Corporate Fundraising Manager for the RNLI, said:
‘A total of 44 Loch Fyne restaurants took part in the raffle of Michael’s book, raising more than a thousand pounds towards an appeal target of raising £125,000 for a new RNLI lifeboat in Lyme Regis.

‘It was nice to bring Susan and Michael together in the very same restaurant where she purchased her ticket. I hope she is pleased with her win and I would express my thanks to Loch Fyne, Michael Frith and Susan Draper for playing a part in helping raise funds for the RNLI.’

 

March 13, 2009