THE ADRIAN COOPER RESEARCH FUND
Friday 8th August 2014
Friday 8th August 2014 saw the fifth annual charity evening held at Crayford Greyhound Stadium, with a tremendous £1256 raised for the Adrian Cooper Research Fund, in memory of Penny Dixey, much loved and missed wife to Brian and mother to Sally and Caroline. Brian, Sally and Caroline worked tirelessly to make the event the success it was, with everyone involved helping to add to the fun and laughter. Thank you to all who sponsored races and dogs, and to all who came - your continued support means a huge amount to both Adrian's and Penny's families and loved ones.
Friday 6th September 2013
The fourth annual night at Crayford dogs on the 6th September, organised by the Dixeys in memory of Penny, was as always great fun and - thanks to everyone’s generosity - a huge success.
The past three years at Crayford dogs have seen over £6000 raised for the Fund and this year £2013 was raised from the evening, taking the grand total to £8114.
As I am sure you’ll agree this is a huge amount, so a big thank you from us and the Dixeys in ensuring the continued success of this event. Your support is a wonderful way to honour Penny’s memory as the years go by.
Thanks to everyone for coming and to those who sponsored a race or a dog - and, of course, a massive thank you to the Dixeys for making this annual occasion such a fun, memorable and special evening.
Sunday 4th August 2013
A huge thanks to Sarah McLean aka Piggy who rode the Prudential RideLondon - Surrey to raise money for the Fund. It took her an amazing 7 hours and 9 minutes to cycle the 100 miles and she raised a truly brilliant £1000.
As Sarah told us the next day, ““It’s the day after the Prudential RideLondon, and it’s safe to say I’m glad it’s over. Leith Hill is indeed lethal, and I’m not sure there’s enough chamois cream in the world to make some bits of me feel better, but it was all worth it in the end. Thank you to everyone who was generous enough to sponsor me. Until next year!”
And a huge thank you from all of us to Sarah for raising so much money.
Thursday 13 December 2012
On 13 December, beloved friends and family turned up in great force to Westbourne Grove Church Hall, W11, for a festive quiz to raise money for the Fund. The combination of plenty of booze, pizzas, a truly excellent quiz master (thank you so much Nick Curtis) and some fab prizes hopefully meant that everyone had a great time.
£4000 was raised from the evening - a fantastic amount. Thank you to everyone involved in making it such a successful event and to those who donated prizes. And most of all thank you to everyone who came - we hope you enjoyed it!
Friday 10th August 2012
It was a beautiful summer’s evening for the third annual night at Crayford dogs organised by the Dixeys. As always, the turnout was very impressive and judging by all the laughter, much fun was had by everyone - and a grand total of £2365 was raised for the Fund. Another huge thank you to the Dixeys for making this annual event so successful and special - and thank you to everyone who came along. With your support, the amount raised was an all-time record!
Tuesday 3rd July 2012
The second Adrian Cooper Memorial Lecture was given by the esteemed writer and historian John Julius Norwich, who had his audience captivated with his 60-minute talk about the Popes. Not only were guests in awe that John Julius managed to condense the entire history of the papacy into one hour - but that he gave the whole lecture without any notes. A truly fascinating and remarkable man.
Huge thanks to John Julius, and Charles Gibson QC and Lauren Miller and everyone else at Henderson Chambers who made the night such a success. We look forward to seeing you at the next one!
Friday 12th August 2011
The annual evening at the greyhound races at Crayford was another triumph. Once again a huge thank you to everyone who came and thanks too all those who helped make the evening such a special one, in particular Brian and Caro Dixey. With your support, the evening raised £2012 for the Adrian Cooper Research Fund. See you next year!
Friday 6th August 2010
The Dixeys organised an enormously fun evening at Crayford dogs for friends and family - and raised a fabulous £1724 for the Fund in the process.
Guests sat down for a three-course meal and many of them had kindly sponsored a race or a dog to help raise money for the Fund. In return they received their name on the programme as a sponsor, presented the trophy to the winning dog and owner, and were given a photo of the momentous occasion. The sponsor of the winning dog of each race also won a fabulous prize.
Thursday 4th February 2010
What better way to celebrate the inaugural Adrian Cooper Memorial Lecture than with a fascinating talk by Bamber Gascoigne? Not only was Adrian a huge fan of University Challenge - of which Bamber was the original presenter - but it soon became obvious from Bamber’s huge intellect, charm and humour throughout the evening, that he and Adrian would have got on like a house on fire had they met. Bamber’s fascinating talk, “In Pursuit of the Mughal Emperors”, took place at the Parliament Chamber in the Inner Temple, and was followed by drinks and canapes.
Special thanks, of course, to Bamber and to Charles Gibson QC, Lauren Miller and everyone else at Henderson Chambers for organising such a memorable evening.
Saturday 8th August 2009
It was with huge sadness that family, friends and colleagues of Penny Dixey learned that she had passed away on the 8th August, after being diagnosed with a brain tumour.
Penny’s family have kindly asked those who knew her to make donations to the Fund, for which we are enormously grateful.
To read the tribute to Penny, which was read at her funeral please: Click here
Friday 3rd July 2009
The grey clouds dispersed to give way to a beautiful sunny evening for the annual Health Protection Agency (www.hpa.org.uk) Colindale summer fete. And the event was, as always, a resounding success. This year, the fair’s organisers very generously agreed to donate a third of the proceeds to Adrian’s Fund. The final amount donated was £331.72, so a massive thank-you to everyone involved.
Sunday 5th April 2009
James Lewis nobly took on the Paris marathon in aid of the Fund. He finished it in five hours and seven minutes-ish. We cannot thank James enough for running it for TACRF. In his own words:
“It was a great experience - lots of very friendly Parisians, tons of live bands, and wine tasting on the home straight (honestly!), and a lot further than I had hoped it would feel. The feet took a while to recover!
“Thank-you so much for your kind donations; all told, post Gift Aid and bits and pieces, we raised £2800 for the Fund - a great cause to support. Here is a group shot - you can just see me about 10,000 people from the back!”
Thursday 18th December 2008
The carol service in honour of Adrian took place on 18th December at 5.45pm at The Temple Church (templechurch.com). It was a fantastic evening. We were overwhelmed by the turnout and cannot thank everyone enough for all their support.
We raised over £7000 at the service - an incredible sum - which will go towards The Adrian Cooper Research Fund; we are enormously grateful to everyone who donated so generously.
Our thanks, too, to the team at Temple Church, including the fantastic choir, who couldn’t have been more kind and accommodating. And also, to everyone who helped on the night - especially all those mince pie makers! Thank-you.
Sunday 28th September 2008
Helen Smethurst very kindly ran the Berlin Marathon this year to raise money for Adrian’s Fund. She completed the marathon in an amazing 3 hours and 9 minutes and raised over £1000. We are very touched by your kindness.
Friday 25th April 2008
Izzy’s friends organised a pub quiz at the Alma pub in Wandsworth to raise money for Adrian’s Fund. Amongst a spirit of healthy competition and plenty of wine, the quiz raised nearly £1400 thanks to the generosity of everyone who attended. We are hoping to stage another pub quiz night soon and Izzy vows that this time her team won’t come last! Special thanks to Bex Thornton and Liz Thornton for arranging such a wonderful event.