NETJETS EU VOLUME 15 2021

GOODWILL
Victoria & Albert Museum’s ceramics gallery.
He also mentions the figurative painter Caroline
Walker; the Zambian-born painter Jonathan
Wateridge; and Lucy Williams, whose intricate
works assembled from multiple layers of
meticulously cut and arranged paper redefine
the concept of collage. “I hate to single out
individuals because everyone who’s given us
a work is a hero in my eyes. Artists are always
so incredibly positive, or the ones I’ve met
anyway. They’re probably more philanthropic
than any other group of people.” As, he hastens
to add, are the “tremendous committee of
dealers who have really gone in to bat for us.
We’ve been busy!”
Of course, a fundraising auction is about
more than just the art on offer. Burston first
came across Rays of Sunshine more than a
decade ago when a friend alerted him to a
no-longer-extant website called Buy Once Give
Twice through which charities could raise funds
by auctioning items and experiences. The BBC
news anchor Fiona Bruce had offered a tour of
the corporation’s newsroom and “a discussion
on how the news is made” in aid of the charity.
Burston bid for it, won it and spent a “really
interesting afternoon at the BBC. She was
incredibly gracious,” he adds.
Intrigued by the charity he had found
himself supporting, Burston mentioned that
he’d like to meet its CEO. An introduction was
made. And gradually he became more involved
in its work. In 2012, for example, he used his
contacts to enable “a lovely young girl, who
was a gymnast and had a brain tumour”, to
go to the Olympics and watch the women’s
gymnastics. Not just that, but some of the team
then came to the box she was watching from.
“Her parents were nurses at Addenbrooke’s
Hospital in Cambridge, and I spent the day
with them all,” he says. “They were all really
inspirational in terms of their bravery and
courage. She had a fantastic time, and her
parents had a great day with her, but she sadly
passed away a few weeks later. I attended her
funeral and talked at some length with her
parents and realised that what we did as a
charity had a real impact on families because
they retain these incredibly positive memories
of the experience.”
Listen to the stories of the children that Rays
of Sunshine exists to help, and it is impossible
not to be moved. Sometimes their wishes are
modest: they might want an iPhone, an iPad,
COURTESY RAYS OF SUNSHINE
TOP GEAR
Joe Lunn’s bike ride raised
more than £15,000 for the
charity that helped him
achieve his NFL dream
STANDING PROUD
George Shaw’s Painted Love,
2021, one of the pieces in Rays
of Sunshine’s auction
a laptop for gaming or to meet a celebrity. But
others, despite their predicament, dream big.
Not that anything seems to faze the “wish
granters”, who manage to make about 700
a year come true. They actually receive twice
as many requests, and through ward wishes,
activity days, and parties bringing together
families, touch the lives of around 20,000
children and their families each year.
One child longed to meet a real-life
mermaid. The team at Rays of Sunshine found
one for her. (At least it looked like a mermaid.)
“No matter what the future holds, we will
always have the memories of seeing her run
towards the mermaid and the look on her
face,” said her mother afterwards.
Yet more incredibly, they managed to
grant another five-year-old’s wish to see
the Loch Ness Monster. Eight weeks after a
seven-month stay in hospital being treated
for leukaemia, he and his parents travelled to
Scotland, set out on a boat and, through his
binoculars, glimpsed it. “I got to see her! She
was green and scaly, a bit like a dinosaur, but
friendly,” he said. (And you thought she was
mythical!)
ONLY MARGINALLY less complicated to set up
was the wish granted to a little girl who went
12 NetJets