We’ve been fundraising for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity in memory of Henry since his book, Thoughts on a Wine Cellar, was first published in 2019. Thanks to all the books we sold over Christmas 2021 I’ve just donated £450 to the Royal Marsden. Click here for the thank you the Marsden sent us. We are so grateful to everyone who has supported us.
Henry started writing Thoughts on a Wine Cellar when the mesothelioma that he had been battling with since 2012 returned. Wine was one of Henry’s favourite things. He loved how wine tastes but also the way it is such natural product. It roots are in the environment it comes from. Over the years he tried different grapes and wines from many regions and began building his collection of wine. Some of it is stored in bond but much of it is in our own cellar. Thoughts on a Wine Cellar is the story of that collection, of Henry and of our family. Writing gave Henry strength during the worst of times.
Publishing Thoughts on a Wine Cellar
When Henry died in 2017 I wasn’t sure what to do with his manuscript. An agent had shown interest and we thought the book might be published. However, progress was stressful and slow. Eventually, in 2019 I decided to print the book myself so that I could share it with the family and friends who had been such a support to us. We had a book launch kindly hosted by Farrer and Co (when Henry worked) and we raised over £2000 for the Marsden.
After the launch I added Thoughts on a Wine Cellar to Top Note Design’s website. I thought it would be the easiest way for friends to get hold of a copy. However, to my surprise many of our wonderful customers, who never knew Henry, began to buy the book as well. Soon I needed to commission a reprint. In 2021 live events began again and when I went out and about to sell our range of wine accessories I took copies of Henry’s book with me. We often sold out!! All profits from every copy of the book I sold are going to the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
I’m thrilled to make this latest donation of profits from our Christmas sales but I’m even more overwhelmed by all the kind words and wonderful comments our customers have made about the book. Some have been in person, some via email and they have all meant a lot to me.
Our Next Fundraising Venture
I’m now going ahead with our next Thoughts on a Wine Cellar reprint and will continue to donate every penny we make from each sale in Henry’s memory. However, we wanted to do more fundraising for the Royal Marsden. So the children and I will be taking part in The Royal Marsden’s 15 mile fundraising walk on 22 May. If you would like to support us we have a fundraising page. I’ll let you know how we get on.
If you haven’t yet read Henry’s book here is an extract that, I think, sums up his approach perfectly.
I read an article , a number of years ago, in Decanter magazine in which an Indian brain surgeon was interviewed about his life in wine. He divided the pleasure that a bottle of wine can bring into the following proportions: one third the history of the wine (in other words, the connotations, the expectations, the memories that the particular bottle carries), one third the company in which it is drunk and one third the innate quality of the wine. I would go further than this: maybe one quarter the history, one quarter only the quality and one half the company.
`Henry Goulding, Thoughts on a Wine Cellar’
