Leaving Chinawhite at 3.30am I head straight for the Park Lane Hotel, quick shower, pack my bags and off to the Gatwick for my 0630 flight to Marrakech!

I got involved with the Atlas Mountain trek through my good friend and client, Nick Groom, who had asked me to arrange a Tag Rugby Tournament as part of his fundraising. The trek supported two excellent causes, Afrikids and Macmillan.

I arrive in Marrakech and we are driven to Imlil at the base of the Atlas Mountains. My expectation was checking into a hotel and grabbing a well deserved 10 hour sleep before trekking the next morning – wrong! I had read the itinerary of the other members who had arrived two days earlier than me due to VU running the Lee Mears dinner a day after the main party left the Uk for Marrakech.

The expression on my face on learning that we were immediately trekking for 6 hours, climbing 1300m was one to be savoured for an eternity. Andrew, the paramedic that was accompanying me on the trek laughed his head off on the realization that I expected a hotel bed. Champagne, tequila, white wine, red wine still displaced all evidence of blood in my system. The next 3 hours were the toughest thing I can ever remember encountering. I had never felt so much pain before. I hit the wall..thank God we had a mule with us! Thankfully the rest of the team didn’t react quickly enough to capture on my arrival at base camp on the back of a mule!

So far well over £130,000 has been raised for both charities and a big hand goes to Alistair Turner who masterminded the whole programme. His unrelenting energy through out campaign was awesome and the whole experience with the other trekkers was fantastic.

Champagne reception kicked off at 7pm and I received a call that the coach from Bath bringing all the Bath & Bristol based players was running late due to a major accident on the M4 resulting in closure of all lanes post junction 5. This is the sort of nightmare we don't want - the man of the evening plus our MC were on board the coach! At 7.30pm, we were due to sit down, the coach had reached Hammersmith, traffic was crawling and we had used up our budgeted champagne allownance. Oh well, had to keep the bubbly rolling, at 8pm they were at Shepherds Bush, we were 20 bottles of champagne over budget - time to call all guests to dinner before our budget gets completely blown.

I assume the role of MC, welcome everyone and introduced the lovely ladies from RADA for their opening number. Just as the performance finished, the boys from the west entered the Nursery Pavilion. Relief all round from the VU team. Bath prop, David Flatman takes over as MC and runs a fabulously smooth and successful evening. Mark Regan was a star panellist recounting a story about horse racing enthusiast, Simon Shaw, being introduced to Richard Dunwoody in a Dublin nightclub following a game. Shawsy got on all fours and insisted the Richard rode him around the dance floor, Richard duly complied!

From Lord's to Chinawhite where we danced the night away like there was no tomorrow. At 4am I left Chinawhite, picked up my trekking gear from our hotel and on to Gatwick for a 6.30am flight to Marrakech to join the rest of the Afrikids Atlas mountains trekking group! more on that in a few days time.

It was fun seeing so many current and former players again and the banter flowed all evening.

Lee's next London event is the Nordoff Robbins Six Nations Dinner at the Royal Lancaster Hotel on 21st Jan 09. At this year's corresponding dinner, Simply Red brought the house down - who knows who our surprise guest act will be next Jan..be there to find out!

I am excited about catching up with some of the boys tomorrow night at England & Bath hooker, Lee Mears' Testimonial Gala Dinner at the Nursery Pavilion, Lords.

A snapshot of some of the boys attending include Lawrence Dallaglio, Jason Leonard, Danny Cipriani, Phil Vickery, Tom Palmer, Matt Perry, Mike Claasen, Butch James, Matt Stevens, James Haskell, Mark Regan and many more

Fundraising is supporting PRA Benevolent Fund, Wooden Spoon and Willow Foundation - a full lisdt is below and if you are keen to place a reserve on any items, send  me an email at victor.ubogu@vultd.co.uk 

if you are coming, see you tomorrow, if not, I'll fill you in on how the night went.

It's taken me 5 years to get there but it was well worth the wait for my maiden victory at the annual VU Sailing Regatta.

Four Farr 65s, with captains Mark Regan (Vantage Insurance Services), Eric Peters (Times New Media),  Dan Ward Smith (Gaymer Cider) and myself (Price Waterhouse Coopers) competed for the VU Sailing Trophy. Of course, there was a proper skipper onboard the yachts to show us the ropes.

My team, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, won the first race by a mile with Mark Regan's Vantage Insurance coming second. I thought I was doing Gaymer Cider a favour by giving them Dan Ward Smith. Dan, out with various injuries over the past 18 months, has obvioulsy been doing over time in the gym. He reminded me of what I looked like in my playing days - well toned with a 6 pack! He broke the grinder within a few minutes of the opening race! A warning to opposing teams this season, watch out when he breaks out from the base of the scrum.

In the second race, positions were reversed with Mark Regan's Vantage Insurance coming first and my yacht coming second. We decamped to Bar Ha Ha for prize giving. The overal winner was settled by a four man boat race. Luckily we had some serious gusslers on my team and we easily downed the cold bottles of bud well ahead of Mark's team.

It's been a hectic period since my last entry. Following the England's downfall at Murrayfield, my team and I were in Cannes the following Tuesday and hosted our annual rugby lunch during MIPIM- the massive property industry conference.

The usual suspects were in attendance at The Big Lunch, as it's now known - Jason Leonard, Jeremy Guscott, Scott Gibbs, Steve Ojomoh, Scott Hastings, Paul Wallace, Damian Cronin, Eric Peters, Craig Chalmers and Ade Adebayo. We enjoyed a superb 6 course lunch at the 2star michelin L'Oasis Restaurant.

During the Q&A, suberbly hosted by Scott Hastings, a question was posed to Ade : " What would your advise have been to Danny Cipriani when finding himself in the uncompromising situation with a tranny?" "Swallow" Ade responded! Guests cracked up - typical of Ade to respond in a such a warped mannner.

Next stop was Twickenham where we witnessed a star performance by Danny - the young man has certainly arrived.

Hong Kong Sevens swiftly followed - my memory is obliterated by copius amounts of vodka redbull - besides all stories remain on tour! If you have never been to the sevens, it's an absolute must and one that once experienced you'll find it difficult not to keep going back.

A few days home then on to Vegas for the Calzaghe v Hopkins Fight. Thought I could play blackjack - I was proved wrong when with 10 minutes to kill waiting for some guests I decided to have a little flutter - goodbye $500! Ouch!

Welsh contingent respected the American anthem and Calzaghe went on to record a points victory - looking forward already to his next fight, hopefully at Madison Square Gardens in New York; having done the last two Hatton Fights in Vegas as well, I could do with a change and so can my losing streak at the tables.

The VU Fight Night at the Cafe Royal in London followed 24 hours after returning from Vegas. We launched the testimonial year of Bath & England hooker. Lee Mears. A whole host pof players were in attendance to support Lee including world cup 2007 winner Butch James, Mark Regan, Matt Stevens, Shaun Perry, Matt Perry plus many more. In the interview with Mark Regan where he praised Lee for his achievements, he also mentioned a wry smile that he very much looking forward to watching him "hanging out of his arse in New Zealand" during the forthcoming tour by England.

We are running some of Lee's events so do get in touch if you are keen to support him.