Auction winners at Graham Norton Show

Sue and Bob had a fantastic experience at Sunshine and a Plate 2018 and won an auction item (A 6 litre Invivo wine bottle) that came with tickets to a Graham Norton show! Read what Sue shared about her experience below:

"Sitting at a beautifully set table the full length of the Wharf at Ohiwa would have thought that winding the clock forward to October 4th on an equally beautifully sunny day we would be sitting outside the studio in West London where the Graham Norton Show is filmed.

Although we live in London we love to support Hospice EBoP when we are at home in Whakatane for the NZ summer. We have done some amazing things and met some lovely people and this was no exception. The lovely Tim and Rob from Invivo Wines added tickets to a filming of the Graham Norton Show to the bottle of GN/Invivo wine we were bidding for.

It is fascinating to see a TV programme being recorded. What passes as a slick one hour show takes around two hours to film, getting the audience warmed up the guests relaxed and in the case of Graham Norton the Red Chair recharged with new victims. We were lucky enough to see Rowan Atkinson talking about his new Johnny English film, Jamie Lee Curtis plugging a Halloween Sequel, Gary Barlow (lots of screams there) promoting his new book and Jeff Goldblum. An accomplished pianist, he regularly performs at jazz clubs in LA and NY with his band, The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. Who knew?

He performed a track from the album with his orchestra and the sensational Imelda May. What can I say? It was simply stunning – the icing on the cake. A fitting end to the show – Oh well almost. We had a few retakes to do and then Graham filmed all of the intros to the next weeks show, including the one for New Zealand. Then we were lucky enough to go to the Green Room have a delicious glass of Graham Norton Invivo Prosecco and mingle with the great and good.

It was a lovely experience for us, and we are thrilled that we had the chance to bid for it at the auction back in March on Ohiwa Wharf to help support Hospice EBoP. The best bit is that we still have the bottle of wine waiting for us on our next trip to Whakatane. It’s a rather big bottle which is why we didn’t drink it there and then! A true win win situation. Thank you to everyone concerned."