Charmaine's Cupcakes in the 'Big Smoke'

When exciting things happen at Charmaine's Cupcakes they all happen at once!  We have had an extremely busy but hugely rewarding fortnight which all kicked off with us heading off to London on 10th November to deliver 300 cupcake canapes to the BFI in Southbank for the annual Virgin Media Shorts Awards. This event sees 12 finalists have their 2.20 minute short films judged by a prestigious board which this year was headed by John Hurt whose films include Alien, Hellboy and Harry Potter.  The Awards are organised by our mentor Luke Southern's team from Virgin Media and so as well as securing the job I was also fortunate enough to receive 2 invitations to the red carpet event as well as the exclusive after party where we enjoyed a champagne reception, endless cocktails as well as the opportunity to meet Paloma Faith and Rick Edwards.

With Ernestina Craig Hall (Virgin Media Pioneer Manager) & Simon Dornan (Head of Virgin Media PR)

After returning home on the 11th we had quite a few orders to prepare including a wedding before heading back to London very, very early on 15th November.  Our cargo including 180 Cup-O-Cakes, 100 Canapes and 4 gift boxes.  The first stop was to the launch of Richard Branson's new book 'Screw Business as Usual'  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Screw-Business-Usual-Richard-Branson/dp/0753539799 where we met up with other pioneers and presented Sir Richard with his very own personalised box of cupcakes which earned me a kiss in return!

We then finished off preparations for the www.virginmediapioneer.co.uk Control Shift event at The Hub Westminster in the evening where we enjoyed a few hours of being inspired by fellow pioneers, networking with supporting businesses and socialising with decision makers and MP's as well as showcasing our products.

The next day we headed off to Shaftesbury Avenue to drop off some Cup-O-Cakes to the popular gossip magazine Heat where we were fortunate enough to be given a tour of the office by roving reported Olivia Foster.

We then took in the sights (in the bitterly cold weather) before getting ready for a social evening at the Marriott Hotel where we had invitations to The Women of the Future Awards to support a fellow pioneer Zoe Jackson, founder of http://livingthedreamcompany.co.uk/.  It was a great evening filled with inspirational women including Princess Anne and Cherie Blair and was topped off when Zoe won the award in her category of Arts, Media and Culture.

All in all a very successful trip to London and we are looking forward to returning in the future.