Wellington is sparkling in anticipation of a visit by the Duke and Duchess of Wellington, who arrive on 3rd of February to meet the local community at a civic function and get to know some of the wine estates in their namesake town before attending a ball given in their honour and as a fundraising event by the Wellington Wine Producers Educational TrustBall tickets for the 7th February are doing very well (nearing capacity at 400 people) and a number of companies and individuals have shown wonderful support. The evening will start with tasting of Wellington Guild Wines and music on the terraces of Diemersfontein Country House. Some beautiful pieces of art, weekends away and wine has been donated for auction. After dinner, and a short address by The Duke, there will be some choral interludes and dancing to the sound of Johnny Cooper Big Band. The dinner is a gourmet menu prepared by Matthew Gordon of Franschhoek- it should be magical - under the stars if weather permits To commemorate the Duke's visit, the Guild have produced a wine ‘the Duke of Wellington's Blend’ from the wines of several Wellington Estates - which will be on sale for the first time. A 10% equity in this wine project goes to the newly formed Wellington Wine Producers Educational Trust, as do all the profits from the Ball. Beneficiaries will include various educational projects and a central focus for our Trust, which is Foetal Alcohol Syndrome. (FAS). We are working actively to develop a community based intervention progamme (and are busy appointing a community worker to focus on the Wellington area). We are very pleased to have the suppport of Dr Terence Carter - Chief Director of Tygerberg Hospital, Mr Rubin Adams - Educational Psychologist in the Department of Education, Paarl and other experienced community workers to mentor the project. We are aware that there are other initiatives in the industry which focus on FAS. The problem needs huge resources and the more attention it gets from responsible and coherent projects the better. We hope that our Wellington project could in time form part of a wider network of experts in the wine industry taking a role in FAS – we feel we should look the devil in the eye on this one and try to make a contribution, particularly under the rubric of 'responsible alcohol use'.The Duke is the Patron of the Trust, and Trustees include Mr Jonty Driver, SA born and latterly Master of Wellington College in the UK, Mr Herman Bailey - Mayor of Wellington / Drakenstein, Dr Lee Wallis, a medical practitioner and Guild member, and David Sonnenberg whose previous career prior to Diemersfontein was in Clinical Psychology when he worked in an alcoholism treatment centre.There are still some tickets available - and we hope colleagues in the Industry will join to support us and have a wonderful evening. The price is R1,000 per ticket - and if any wine company puts together a table of ten or more, the organizer is given a complimentary ticket.Our organizer is Alison BarnardTel: +27 (0) 21 670-1300 (Direct: +27 (0) 21 670-1485)Email: alison@africankaleidoscope.co.za Issued by: David Sonnenberg, Diemersfontein Wine & Country EstateTel: +27 (0) 21 864-5050 or direct +27 (0) 21 864-5093Website: http://www.diemersfontein.co.za