Over 200 of our supporters and students turned out to join in our celebration in London on June 17th and to toast Aung San Suu Kyi's 64th birthday which fell two days later.

I wish you could all have been there to hear the speeches.

Zoya Phan, a former student, talked about how her village was set on fire by the military and she and her family fled for their lives through the jungle to reach a refugee camp. Zoya is the recipient of two Prospect Burma scholarships, and on behalf of all 1,400 Prospect Burma students she spoke of the incredible impact education has had on their lives.

Our Guest of Honour for the evening was Prospect Burma partner, Joanna Lumley, who spoke from her heart about her admiration for Aung San Suu Kyi and the need to support education. Viscount Slim, our Patron, relayed a message from HRH The Prince of Wales; Trustee, Lindy Ambrose, read out a message of support from former First Lady, Laura Bush; and Aung San Suu Kyi’s brother-in-law, Anthony Aris, asked for 64 seconds of silence before inviting everyone to raise a toast to both Prospect Burma and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Bloomsbury Auctions kindly let us use their premises, so we took advantage of oulocation and held both live and silent auctions. Together with the raffle, entrance tickets, donations and ten pound-on-the-night draw – we have raised over £28,000! Thank you so much to everyone who contributed, and also to Tina Blick for her wonderful canapés, and to the band, Innuendo, from St Paul’s School.