Charity and social round-up

Homelessness charity gets royal approval The Duke of Cambridge has launched Pledge150, the RICS and LandAid campaign seeking to raise £2.25m to combat youth homelessness. At the event at the RICS Westminster HQ on 17 November, he welcomed the fundraising, enough to provide 150 beds for young people at risk. The launch raised £127,000 and featured a charity cook-off hosted by TV presenter Angellica Bell, winner of this year’s BBC Celebrity MasterChef. RICS’s Sean Tompkins and LandAid’s Paul Morrish were helped by Sean Marsey, one of LandAid’s Young Voices and on the board of youth homelessness charity St Basils, and Rihana Senay, who has been helped by New Horizon’s Youth Centre, a LandAid-funded project. Both chief executives prepared a dish of mackerel with heritage carrots, citrus and sesame, with Morrish judged winner by Steve Groves, head chef, Roux at Parliament Square. Nottingham QT forces lively debate More than 70 people turned out for EG’s Nottingham Question Time earlier this month. Topics included retaining graduates, facilitating development and progress on regeneration plans around St James’s station. Panelists included the city council’s corporate director of development David Bishop; Brendan Moffett, chief executive, Marketing NG; Vivienne Clement, director, Henry Boot; and Keith Lown, principal lecturer, school of architecture, design and the built environment, Nottingham Trent University. Property has its (race) day [caption id="attachment_899082" align="alignright" width="300"] Jane Gates of Sebastian’s Actions Trust[/caption] The Property Race Day committee has presented its biggest fundraising haul since 2007 to five charities; LandAid, Sebastian’s Action Trust, The Children’s Trust, SOS Children’s Village, and Chernobyl Children in Need. The annual summer event, which attracts 850 people, this year raised £320,000, taking the total raised since it was established to more than £2m. Held at Ascot, this year’s event featured the property race, in which seven industry professionals thundered down the straight mile on horseback. David Erwin, partner at Dunluce Property, and chairman and co-founder of Property Race Day, said: “We are genuinely proud to have reached this milestone, and it is a testament to all the people involved. Our biggest thanks, however, goes to everyone who commits to this event year after year and digs deep to support the important work of our chosen charities.”