Notting Hill Shopping Bag makes first charitable donation to @HermioneCameron

Over the past few months, we’ve been asking our Twitter followers and bag stockists to vote for which local charity/good cause should receive our first donation.

The clear winner was Notting Hill based author Hermione Cameron, author of ‘Notting Hill, Behind the Scenes’, and today we donated £500 to her fund raising efforts.

On 30th March 2011 Hermione set off on a daunting 700 mile walk all the way from Paris to the Mediterranean in order to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) in memory of her partner Steve, who died last year.

Her journey will take her along rivers, roads and even over the foothills of the Alps. She’ll arrive in Monte Carlo between 18th May (Steve’s birthday) and 29th May (his favourite event the Monaco F1 Grand Prix).

Hermione says: “I’m walking 700 miles from Paris to Monte Carlo  from March to May 2011 in memory of my partner Steve Thorogood.   The River Thames ran in Steve’s blood. He loved the open air and the sun’s rays and walking for miles along the Thames.

‘When he died last September I was overwhelmed by huge waves of emotion. All I could do was to walk and walk and walk, thinking I would see him again in all our old familiar haunts. He’d always wanted to be beside the water, to live in a houseboat or flat with a waterside view. Now I hope that his spirit can live in a Lifeboat on the Thames and help save lives on the water.