SUPPORT THE TROOPS AND GIVE YOUR BRIGHT YOUNG THING A CITY JOURNALISM START
WITH Apprentice Week kicking off on Monday, readers should be wise to a special charity sale going on next week as City A.M. gives some bright young thing a two-week internship to kickstart their business journalism career.
The auction is taking place at the Square Mile Salute, a charity banquet supported by City A.M. next Friday in aid of three troops’ charities: Help for Heroes, the Royal British Legion and ABF (formerly the Army Benevolent Fund) The Soldiers’ Charity.
The food will be prepared by 12 world-class chefs over numerous courses, with William Curley, winner of the best British chocolatier award in 2007-2009, serving delectable treats. Boris Johnson will kick off the evening and Jeremy Clarkson will be assisting the auction, with a range of City firms already signed up to host tables.
And for those without a budding young journalist in the family, the charity auction will also feature a two-day stay at the Fairmont Monte Carlo during the Grand Prix and a holiday on Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island. The good news is you can still snap up one of the last tables for a £3,500 donation to our troops. Visit www.chamberlainsoflondon.com to book one.
SLOPING OFF
A team of intrepid lawyers from City law firm Norton Rose risked frostbite, altitude sickness and worst of all, the loss of Blackberry signal last week, when they took on a 150km ski hike through the French Alps.
Twelve lawyers joined a group of skiers on the excursion, which spanned 15 resorts close to Morzine and included night hikes to complete the distance within the 48-hour deadline.
The gruelling challenge was all in the name of charity of course, with sponsorship raised going to the London arm of Snow-Camp – a youth charity that provides ski, snowboard and life-skills lessons to young people from 12 London boroughs.
The skiers taking to the slopes at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, on the other hand, can’t quite boast such a generous cause.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS
Even as David Cameron made the surprise appointment of Craig Oliver to handle his press operation, it seems that special newspaper deliveries to the old Downing Street comms director Andy Coulson are still piling up on the threshold of Number 10.
Drowning under the weight of the avid media consumer and ex-News of the World editor’s many regular deliveries, staff have sent out an explicit letter: “Andy Coulson has now left Downing Street”, it says bluntly. “I will inform you when to add his successor to your distribution list.”
That’ll be one freshly ironed copy of City A.M. coming your way daily, Mr Oliver.
AND THE WINNER IS
With just over three weeks to go until this year’s official Academy Awards, Nomura will be challenging its very own glitterati at an Oscars Quiz night tonight, in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT).
More than 240 Nomura employees will walk the red carpet before being quizzed by BBC sports presenter Gabby Logan (pictured left), ably assisted by her very own in-house assistant – Nomura’s joint chief operator of wholesale, Paul Spanswick.
The bank hopes to raise over £10,000 tonight towards the creation of a new day centre at University Hospital, London, bringing the firm’s total contribution to the TCT to over £800,000.
Proof that even the embarrassment of not knowing any answers to the quiz can be a worthwhile endeavor.