I’ve found my next addiction:  live auctions! 

Last night Lisa and I joined Cherry D for their 4th birthday celebrations, where salty daiquiris and sumptuous vol-au-vents prepared us for a hugely successful charity auction. 

Although we were keen to bid on a number of items, we soon found ourselves slightly out of depth amongst what appeared to be a sea of seasoned bidders. 

Cherry D had persuaded Richard Madley to preside over the event, an auctioneer experienced both at exciting the crowd and making them eager to part with their cash.  Items donated ranged from the bizarre to luxurious - a ghostly tour of Clifton, a hot air balloon ride and a weekend for two at one of Europe’s most exclusive hotels being just 3 of the 15 lots called.

Over £3,100 was raised in less than an hour but more importantly, many of the charities that Cherry D have helped over the past 4 years were given an opportunity to talk about their recent developments.   Cherry D have clearly made an important impact on Bristol’s 3rd sector, providing practical business skills to people passionate about their respective causes.

Click here to find out more about Cherry D and the charities they support.

So after a bit of head scratching, articulating and discussion in the office, we're pleased to announce the launch of our new blog, which we hope will give you all a bit more of an insight into all things Focus New Media - what we're up to, what we like and don't like and some of our thoughts and opinions on things that are going on in the world.

Technically, the blog hasn't been an issue. Most of the chat's that we had centered on the sort of things that we want to publish. It's tricky - stuff needs to be relevant and of interest but with that personal and informal touch. So we decided to keep our news page for announcements, project wins and company developments - and our blog for a bit of playground gossip.

Whilst we're hoping for the whole FNM team to come on and have their say, there will be four main contributors to the blog. Amy, our account exec, will have plenty to say about us, all the work we're doing for various charities and the world in general. Account manager Lisa will no doubt be filling us in on all the networking events she manages to invite herself to. And myself, MD Simon, who's rantings may range from Google's latest products to the search for decent offices in Bristol. The fourth contributor we hope will be you - through our 'comments' facility you'll be able to give us your thoughts as well.

So fingers crossed you'll find our blog a bit different and that it fulfills it's purpose - letting you have a sneaky peek at us 'behind the scenes'. Please do get in touch with your comments, we'd love to hear from you.