Charity Toast

Would a charity event in the UK be different than a charity event back home?

In the end the differences are just changes in protocol.  When they say black tie, they mean black tie.  So I am running down Oxford Street at 6:45, like Dustin Hoffman in Marathon Man, to rent a tuxedo for the first time since my senior prom.  My tie options included a bow tie, a skinny black, a wide half Windsor, but beggars had to choose when I told her I needed the tuxedo, not tomorrow, not in June like everybody else in line, but in 20 minutes.

A thousand people packed into a ballroom at Grosvenor House and I am seated next to a Member of Parliament, OK, we’re not in DC any more.  Mr. Stephen McCabe runs for five year terms, represents Birmingham Hall Green and Birmingham Selly Oak, has 75,000 constituents and needs to raise 30,000 GBP for his re-election run.  As a member of the British Labour Party he is on the outs, but he still had plenty of stories.  Most interestingly his tales of meeting Bill Clinton and his strong Scottish Accent, which in a poll was voted the most trustworthy of accents.  He said in a field of Brits it helped him stand out.

Unlike charity events at home there is no fee for entrance, instead it is more like a High Holiday appeal where the table host passes out pledge cards and you can’t leave until you fill them out and give them back. 

There are a series of toasts and presentations.  The usual “thank yous” by board members, a prayer by a Rabbi and then a toast to the Queen, which I was quite excited about.  Everyone grabs their drink, stands and raises a glass and says, “To the Queen,” and sits down.  That’s it?

The Toast to the State of Israel was a bit longer and then the Chancellor to the Exchequer George Osborne spoke movingly about growing up in a Jewish area and always wishing he had a Bar Mitzvah.  And so the Ambassador to Israel stood and gave him a fountain pen with a letter that read:  Dear George, congratulations on your bar mitzvah, it was wonderful.  Please use this pen in good health and don’t seat us next to the Michkin’s again.”