Under the gaze of the Mayor of London’s office on the banks of the River Thames the young and the slightly less young gathered early on Sunday morning for the start of Rafi’s Race: a challenge to race around London as fast as possible visiting every square on the London monopoly board.

With cloudy skies offering some protection from the summer sun and only public transport allowed to carry the teams around the city it was helpful that Transport for London did not schedule any engineering work for the day.

The grand depart at 10:00 saw contrasting approaches with some teams running to London Bridge tube whilst others decided that the start was now a good time to begin planning their route around the 30 sites.

On the streets the teams took pictures of London’s landmarks and shared their progress on social media. The competition was fierce and after tales of lost Oyster cards and brunch at Wholefoods it was The Monopolists that emerged from the pack to cross the finishing line first. Comprising Anthony and Dani Goodmaker, Ben Sheldon, Jody Goldman and Ben Levitt the winning team resisted the urge to go shopping in the West End and completed the challenge in a rapid 3 hours 30 minutes.

Interviewed after the race, they attributed their success not just to good planning but also due to tactics such as ‘confusion’ which included getting off the bus to Old Kent Road early and causing other teams, still on the bus, to panic about what shortcut they knew.

Rafi Davis, the inspiration for the event, finished a strong second and was on hand to present the winners with their trophies. On raising £3,500 Rafi commented “I am thrilled with the massive turnout and that the event was such a success. I am pleased that so many people donated to this truly worthy cause.”

The event was all about the taking part and a special mention goes to Xinyue Pan and Manda Belsham who were still smiling after recording a time of 8 hours – their prize of a Monopoly set may have been the last thing they wanted to see!

Special thanks to everyone for taking part, More London and The Horniman pub for providing the start and finish points, Pancreatic Cancer UK for supplying T-shirts and XL Insurance for providing fantastic branded goodie bags – happily the ponchos weren’t needed. 

Please join us for our exciting Monopoly race!

‘Rafi’s Race for Nicki’s Smile’ will take place on Sunday 20th July 2014.

This promises to be a great day out for all, so invite your family and friends to form a team and see the great sites of London by visiting every square on the Monopoly board!

Completing your task couldn’t be simpler – the only rule is that you must use public transport, which includes London Underground, Bus, River Bus or even a Boris Bike. We will leave it to your imagination to find all locations on the board including; jail, free parking, electricity company and water works.

Registration will be prompt at 9.30am at More London, SE1 2DB (outside Boris’ office, City Hall). The closest tube station is London Bridge.

The event will finish at The Horniman, Hays Galleria, London SE1 2HD (2 minutes from More London), where complimentary refreshments will be served!

We expect teams to finish between 2 and 4pm.

The entry fee is a mere £10 per adult and £5 per child (under 16) and thanks to our partner, XL Insurance, each participant will receive a fantastic goody bag.

How to register

It’s simple – to confirm your entry please email event@nickissmile.com (no limit on team size). Please register no later than 13th June.

The Idea

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Rafi Davis, who has inspired the event. Rafi and his family live in Bushey and have been friends with Nicki’s family for several years. Rafi wants to raise money for Nicki’s Smile to celebrate his 13th birthday.

Please do spread the word about this event and the work of Nicki’s Smile to all your family, friends and contacts so that we can continue to grow and raise much needed funds. Follow us on Twitter (@nickissmile) and like us on Facebook.

Thank you for your continued support.

Dan and the Nicki’s Smile Committee

With thanks to David Goldberg!

We are delighted to announce our exciting summer event!

‘Rafi’s Race for Nicki’s Smile’ will take place on Sunday 20th July 2014. This promises to be a great day out for all, so invite your family and friends to form a team and see the great sites of London by visiting every square on the Monopoly board!

Completing your task couldn’t be simpler – the only rule is that you must use public transport, which includes London Underground, Bus, River Bus or even a Boris Bike. We will leave it to your imagination to find all locations on the board including; jail, free parking, electricity company and water works.

Registration will be prompt at 9.30am at More London, SE1 2DB (outside Boris’ office, City Hall). The closest tube station is London Bridge. The event will also finish here and we anticipate the first teams to return at 2pm.

The entry fee to compete will be £10 per adult and £5 per child (under 16). There will be plenty of prizes on offer, not just for the fastest team. There will also be child-friendly challenges.

There is no limit on the size of your team and to register please email event@nickissmile.com.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Rafi Davis, who has inspired the event. Rafi and his family live in Bushey and have been friends with Nicki’s family for several years. Rafi wants to raise money for Nicki’s Smile to celebrate the occasion of his Bar Mitzvah, which will take place next February.

Please do spread the word about this event and the work of Nicki’s Smile to all your family, friends and contacts so that we can continue to grow and raise much needed funds. Please visit www.nickissmile.com, follow us on Twitter (@nickissmile) and like us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/nickissmile).

Thank you for your continued support.

Dan and the Nicki’s Smile Committee

On 30 March 2014 more than 350 quiz lovers sold out Hasmonean Girls’ High School in Mill Hill, London to raise money for Nicki’s Smile. A phenomenal turn-out!

The event raised more than £6,000 and enables Nicki’s Smile to continue funding world pioneering research in to pancreatic cancer. Since formation in early 2011 you have helped us raise over £400,000!

Following on from the successful quiz in 2012, this event was again brilliantly hosted by QuizQuizQuiz who kept brains ticking over with probing questions whilst The Aviv Restaurant satisfied even the most voracious appetites.

The winning team, ‘Babes from the Wood’ (see picture below) excelled in rounds such as “Up and Down” and “54321”.

Dan Blake, Chair of Nicki’s Smile, said: “Thanks to the generosity of our donors, the Nicki’s Smile Supper Quiz raised over £6,000 and this takes our fundraising total to over £400,000. This is a truly incredible amount that has been raised in Nicki’s memory and enables us to fund pioneering early diagnosis research. We are very excited that our next research project is close to being finalised and look forward to sharing details with our supporters in the near future.”

THIS EVENT HAS NOW SOLD OUT!!

The Nicki’s Smile committee are proud to announce our first event of 2014 with the return of the famous ‘The Nicki’s Smile Supper Quiz’.  Our last quiz was a phenomenal success so don’t miss out this time!

Hosting a table of 10 couldn’t be easier! Just e-mail event@nickissmile.com and we’ll send you a host pack. 

What: Invite your family and friends to form part of your table to raise money for Nicki’s Smile

When: Sunday 30th March 2014, 7.30pm to 10.30pm

Where: North London

Tickets: £25 per person

Remember, to host a table you must e-mail event@nickissmile.com. We’ll then e-mail you with all the information you need in order to host your table – don’t worry, it’s very straightforward 🙂

From Borehamwood to Bushey and as far north as Leeds and Manchester. We even crossed the Atlantic and Pacific to reach New York and Auckland!

On the weekend of 8th-10th November 2013 over 400 people attended dinner parties, brunches, lunches and afternoon teas in aid of Nicki’s Smile. Over £7,000 has so far been raised and the donations are still coming in. This takes the grand total raised by Nicki’s Smile since our launch in early 2011 to over £390,000!

During the weekend the Nicki’s Smile Twitter and Faceboook feeds were abuzz with pictures and menus from events with highlights including; boeuf bourguignon, tarte tatin, apple and brandy soaked raisin strudel, white Russian cupcakes and chocolate Kahlua mousse (not all at the same event).

Below are some pictures of creations that you may have had the pleasure of experiencing first hand. Nicki would definitely have approved!

The Dine For Nicki’s Smile weekend is now just one month away! We’re already hosting events as far away as Auckland, Buenos Aires and New York.

Hosting couldn’t be easier! Just e-mail event@nickissmile.com and we’ll send you a host pack. 

What: Invite your family and friends to dine at your home for breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, dinner or even a BBQ to raise money for Nicki’s Smile

When: Taking place at a time of your choosing during the weekend of 8th – 10th November 2013

Invite: Set your date and invite your guests

Donate: Each guest to make a donation of £10 to the charity

Remember, to host an event you must e-mail event@nickissmile.com. We’ll then e-mail you with all the information you need in order to host your event – don’t worry, it’s very straightforward J.

Please help us spread the word by forwarding this e-mail to your family and friends, wherever they are in the world.

Let’s make this a weekend to remember!

Thank you for your continued support.

Dan and the Nicki’s Smile Committee