Cheltenham Travel Specialist Raises Thousands in Elephant Parade Auction
Abercrombie & Kent, the luxury travel specialist with its head office based in Ambrose Street Cheltenham, has turned heads at the recent fundraising auction to safeguard the future of India’s endangered elephants.
Their corporate elephant (named ‘Ampersand’ following a public vote via the company’s Facebook page, was bought by Irish billionaire Dermot Desmond (number 4 in last year’s Sunday Times Rich List) for £100,000, the third highest price bid of all 250 elephant exhibits. In total, the Elephant Parade initiative has raised a staggering £4million pounds. This auction was the exciting climax to London's largest public art exhibition that raised smiles as well as awareness for the majestic Asian elephant which is in crisis and close to extinction. Each creative piece of elephant art was decorated by a different artist or celebrity.
As well as sponsoring Ampersand, Abercrombie & Kent also donated an elephant-themed trip to Thailand which was raffled on the night. This raffle raised an additional £15,000 and the prize winner, Mr Peter Rochow, was announced by Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, who publicly thanked Abercrombie & Kent on the night for supporting the cause.
Elephant Parade London ran from May to July 2010 and has been a fantastically innovative fundraising and public awareness campaign for the endangered Asian elephant. The elephants were sited around the capital in May, June and July 2010. Each model elephant measured 1.5 metres high and 1.8 metres in length. It's been estimated it will take £10 million to completely safeguard the future of India's elephants. Mayor Boris Johnson, as well as celebrities including Joanna Lumley, Goldie Hawn, Stephen Fry and Michael Palin all supported the project.
