ANTIGUA & BARBUDA TOURISM AUTHORITY

Antigua and Barbuda Beach Shack - Archer Street

October 9, 2017 (London, United Kingdom) - To help with the Barbuda relief efforts, the Antigua & Barbuda Tourism Authority (UK Office) partnered with the Archer Street Cocktail Bar on a UK based fundraiser evening. Held at the Antigua and Barbuda Beach Shack in Archer Street on the closing night of the five-month pop-up, the raffle and auction prizes helped to raise £12,664.23 which will go directly to the High Commission’s Relief Aid.

British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Carlisle Bay Resort, The Inn at English Harbour and Sheer Rocks restaurant all contributed with generous prizes for the auction. Other raffle prizes from charitable partners included theatre tickets, meals for two and UK hotel and spa stays.  

Guests included a mix of Archer Street members, the UK travel trade, travel media and Londoners with an affinity to the island. Attendees listened to Her Excellency Karen-Mae Hill give a moving welcome speech about the impact of Hurricane Irma on Barbuda and how visitor arrivals to Antigua are now more important than ever.

Of the £12,664.23 raised, the Archer Street team kindly donated £1,809.23 with a personal contribution from co-owner Siobhan MaGill of £1,000.

Antigua and Barbuda High Commissioner to the UK, HE Karen Mae Hill during the Archer Street Barbuda Relief event

Her Excellency Karen-Mae Hill, High Commissioner for Antigua and Barbuda says, "In Archer Street, Antigua and Barbuda has a valued friend and partner.  The road to rebuilding Barbuda has been made that much easier to navigate with the continued support of persons right across the United Kingdom providing a helping hand."

Siobhan MaGill, co-owner of Archer Street says, ‘Antigua and Barbuda are islands close to my heart so I am delighted to have been able to do our part to raise funds for Barbuda. The fundraising evening was a successful final event to end our five-month partnership with the Tourism Authority and we hope that our contribution will add to other funds to enable Barbuda to re-build to its former glory.’

Cherrie Osborne, Director of Tourism UK & Europe at the Antigua & Barbuda Tourism Authority comments, ‘As we are in the unusual position of having a twin island state where one island was impacted and the other wasn’t, we wanted to hold a fundraiser that highlights that Antigua is open for business whilst being about to help our sister island of Barbuda. We are delighted by the amount raised and the hard work of the Archer Street team to pull together such a fantastic event. Our thanks goes out to everyone who joined on the evening as every pound contributed makes a difference to the re-build.’