Starry Night for the Moon Bears

On arrival at the critically acclaimed Pan-Asian restaurant in the heart of Camden Town’s Stables Market, Gilgamesh, we were all welcomed by some of the stars of Downton Abbey and a much appreciated glass of champagne. It was great to see the Empath-e logo & strapline emblazoned everywhere – the direction signage, all of the invites/tickets and even the menus!

Master of Ceremonies, Peter Egan (Lord Flintshire) & Lesley Nicol (Mrs Patmore, Head Cook), then took us through to the dining area where a delicious meal followed. During the evening some of the Downton cast performed on stage and entertained the guests with their singing and comedy sketches.

Jill Robinson, Founder & CEO of Animals Asia, then brought us all up to date with the new sanctuary in Nanning, China which is in the process of being converted from a prior bear farm to a brand new sanctuary, with the owner asking Animals Asia to take on the recuperation of the bears. An auction followed with some crazy bidding! Items auctioned included a huge cake, figurines, unique Manchester United items and the star item being a two-week stay at St Vincent & the Grenadines !

Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary Crawley) and Alan Leech (Tom Branson) performed an exceptionally funny version of the song “Bang, Bang” by Cher – the lyrics relating to her on-screen ex-husband in Downton (Matthew Crawley, played by Dan Stephens). An accomplished jazz singer off-stage, Michelle performed the song in the actual style of Lady Mary – the words of which we cannot repeat here, but hilarious!

The night was rounded off with lots of selfies and picture taking – some of which are shown below (click on the link for a larger version).

The next day we were also notified that the event was featured in the Daily Mail, partly due to the Downton stars of course!

With grateful thanks to Nicky Vivyan-Robinson & Gill Maltby of Animals Asia UK who created and organised a very special evening that will be long remembered.