I spent the hours between the end of the College day and 7.00 pm trying to get everything ready for Peter's lecture and for the auction that would follow it. Richard arrived to film the event and I had him buying lettuces (for the Giant Snails) to get change for the float; followed by a stint folding programmes.

Peter Fuchs arrived and we got him as close to the Arden Room as possible and found a suitable chair from which he could deliver his lecture. Although I had sold a few tickets in advance, it would have been very poor if more had not come. In the end we had a good-sized audience of about 50 who sat utterly involved in Peter's excellent account of the coldest, windiest, highest, driest desert on the planet.

The interval was a great opportunity to chat and a glass of wine steadied my nerves sufficiently for the auction. The bidding was quite fierce at times and although a couple of items didn't sell, nearly everything did and a good sum was raised.

In the end, thanks to the enormous goodwill and enthusiasm of everyone who helped and came along, an event that I had lost sleep over turned out to be great fun.