You know the expression you wait ages for a bus then three come along at once; it’s not true. You have to work very hard to get the first one and when it comes you are beside yourself with joy. On the 23rd of September the Van Blanc appeal handed its first fully fitted bus to the Redway extra special special school in Milton Keynes. I can’t describe the joy this brought me. There I was with my good friends from the Lady Taveners who have been a great help in helping organise the whole Van Blanc thing, when this large minibus appeared resplendent in its new livery; at this point I have to admit that, pleased as I was, my emotions were relatively neutral. A nice bus no doubt but “sans plus”. The revelation was the arrival of the children, parents and teachers from the school. As a father myself I understand the bond between parents and their children, but here was a sort of super team of children, parents and teachers, all focused on the children well being. The bond between parent and child is well known, but rarely have I seen such bonds between child and teacher; a very humbling experience. I have to admit to using my influence in the choice of school, a lovely young lady called Louise has a little girl at Redway, I hope you can forgive for this small act of authority abuse.

How did we get to this point? I wish it had been easy but these things never are. It started with a simple thought, businesses really should give something to the communities they work in. So far so easy, at Brasserie Blanc we then had to decide what charity and how to raise money. Choosing the charity was in fact quite easy, many fell to the wayside; “no we can’t tell you exactly where your money will go” or discovering that their head office costs would run a small town. As a Frenchman living in England I have to admit not having heard of the Lady Taveners, my knowledge of cricket is still at the stage where I ask myself what all these men in white are doing? I can’t understand a sport where even the referee is in white. The Lady Taveners seem to leave the cricket firmly in the hands of the men and they seem to get on with the charity side (a parable for life? men enjoying, women organising behind the scenes). What the Lady Taveners offered seemed ideal, a no nonsense approach; a bus costs around £47,000, they ask a minimum of £10,000 from the school and every penny we raised went to buying the bus. So I became a Lady Tavener (sadly I had to become a Lord, something to do with my genes) and set about the toughest part of the whole thing, raising money. Gathering all the managers in the Brasseries, we came up with a simple solution. Use our strengths, we have some lovely rooms, we know how to cook lovely food and we know where to get Champagne. The way we have raised most of the money is by holding Van Blanc nights in the Brasseries. We close a Brasserie down for a night (much to the horror of my poor Finance Director) In tandem with The Lady Taveners we invite a large group of locals, then ply them with free Champagne and food, then we hit them with an auction. We will auction anything, Formula One Days, Trips to Germany, we even auctioned my MD to wear a full set of Lederhosen (an item that strangely was won by a conglomerate of Brasserie staff). To get the first bus we have held these evening in Oxford, Bristol and Cheltenham. The rest of the Brasseries will follow as we aim for Van Blanc 2, 3 and more.

My dear guests also played a part as we asked them to contribute a paltry 50p to the bill for a month last year, you all have my undying gratitude.

I really should finish with more from the bus presentation, the delightful Head Teacher Ruth Sylvester explained exactly what the bus meant to the pupils. It’s not just the chance to get the pupils out, it will be used to collect them on a daily basis thus saving the huge amounts they pay out in taxis, it will also allow the students to go on holidays with the school, leaving the parents and carers some well earned respite.

I wish all those involved had been there to see the good they have done, I was left truly humbled, Redway may call itself “an extra special special school” but I came away thinking more along the extraordinary special school.