Thanks to the generosity of many of our supporters sharing their time, skills and access, we are now able to announce a catalogue of 26 brilliant auction lots.

Auction prizes on offer include weekend stays at rural retreats in Wales and Devon; a signed rugby shirt by the 2004 England rugby team; tea on the terrace at the House of Lords; a chauffeur-driven ride in a vintage car; jewellry and crafts; tickets to family days, theatre and classical music concerts; and a hand-drawn sketch of your favourite pet!

Download the full catalogue of auction lots

The auction will take place online on Thursday 16th March, along with a virtual ‘cheese and wine’ WATSAN update.

You are encouraged to invite as many friends, family and acquaintances as possible to have the opportunity to bid on these fabulous and unique auction lots.

Date: Thursday 16th March

Time: 7.30-9.00pm

Location: Zoom

Register here to join WATSAN and our auctioneer, BBC presenter Sophie Law, for a informative and fun evening.

Grab your own cheese and a glass of whatever you fancy, and join us for an update about WATSAN, and the chance to meet the trustees and other donors, culminating in a fun and fabulous auction of promises to raise funds for our charity.

Prizes on offer include music concerts, personalised art works, long weekends in country cottages and tea on the terrace of the Houses of Parliament! Congratulations to WATSAN donor Jenny Vaughan, who has bid for and won our first auction prize: tickets to the Cirque du Soleil at the Royal Albert Hall.

Date: Thursday 16th March

Time: 7.30-9.00pm

Location: Zoom

It’s all in aid of a good cause: bringing life-saving water and dignified sanitation to the people of Kazuru, where children currently walk miles barefoot to collect water from polluted streams to survive. Our project will bring filtered, piped water to the heart of their community, meaning they can get on with going to school and lifting themselves out of poverty.

Register here to join WATSAN and our auctioneer, BBC presenter Sophie Law, for a informative and fun evening.

NB if you still have an auction prize to donate, please let us know ASAP by emailing hello@watsanuganda.org.

Our online auction of promises will be the chance to ‘buy’ something unique in exchange for a donation to WATSAN. We’re now looking for some inspiring prizes that will get people bidding!

You or someone you know may have a unique item, unrivalled experience or amazing skill that could be donated to our auction catalogue. We are looking for up to 50 different prizes that people attending our auction might not be able to get anywhere else. Here are some ideas:

• Tickets to the theatre or a concert
• A date with a celebrity or big thinker
• A food or beauty hamper
• Loan of a second home
• A unique piece of art, jewellery or literature
• A music or creative writing lesson
• Behind the scenes at a performance or broadcast
• A year’s food or magazine subscription
• A luxury meal or night’s stay
• A collector’s item
• A private tour of a prestigious place
• A personalised artwork or poem
• A professional service

It’s all in aid of a good cause: bringing life-saving water and dignified sanitation to the people of Kazuru, where children currently walk miles barefoot to collect water from polluted streams to survive. Our project will bring filtered, piped water to the heart of their community, meaning they can get on with going to school and lifting themselves out of poverty.

To kick off proceedings, we already have two stalls tickets to Cirque du Soleil at the Royal Albert Hall that you can bid on NOW! The tickets are for 1^st March at 7.30pm and are worth £77 each! As the date falls before our auction, you can email your bid to hello@watsanuganda.org and we will give the tickets to the highest bidder.

We know that through our networks we should be able to pull together a variety of really compelling auction lots. Let’s all rack our brains and persuade our networks on social media and beyond – all ideas welcome.

Please note that there has also been a change of date for this event, which will now take place on Zoom on Thursday 16th March 2023, from 7.30 to 9.00pm. It will be hosted by BBC broadcaster Sophie Law, and everyone is welcome to join. We will share details of how to register shortly.

Make a pledge to the auction by emailing details to Kate Parrinder at hello@watsanuganda.org, including a full description, any terms and conditions, and a suggested reserve price.

WATSAN supporter Mandy McIntosh runs a fair trade shop in Ashby de la Zouch and online. To mark World Toilet Day on 19th November, she is donating 10% of her takings to WATSAN takings from 14th to 30th November 2022.

The offer will include both sales from Mandy’s bricks and mortar shop, and her online shop www.fair2all.net, where you can buy upcycled and fair trade gifts, homewares, accessories and cards.

In 2017 Mandy was part of a team who went to South West Uganda and participated in a WATSAN project working with the local community to provide latrines in their school. Once the latrine block for older girls was completed, over 60 girls returned to education.

WATSAN’s trustees would like to thank Mandy very much for once again making this generous contribution to WATSAN, as she has done for the past two years. And of course, we encourage other supporters to do their Christmas shopping on the Fair2All website!

Visit the Fair2All website

WATSAN’s next fundraising event will be an online auction of promises on the evening of Thursday 26th January. Save the date to bag a unique experience, skill share or treat – or join our organising team to help out.

The auction of promises will be the chance to ‘buy’ something unique in exchange for a donation to WATSAN’s Kazuru project. It will be a lively and fun event, compered by BBC Radio presenter Sophie Law, who will get us excited and competing for the best prizes! It will also be easy to access, on Zoom from 7.30 to 9pm on Thursday 26th January.

You could end up with anything: a free holiday let; dinner with a celebrity; a cookery class; concert tickets; or a magnum of champagne. Some of our lots will be things that money cannot usually buy!

Trustee Kate Parrinder and supporter Jenny Vaughan have started planning the online event, and are looking for one or two others to help us organise it. Please contact Kate via hello@watsanuganda.org if you are interested – we need coordinators and comms experts.

If you have something interesting you are willing to donate as a lot in the auction, please do also get in touch.

Details of how to sign up will follow…