City gulls egg luncheon raises £100,000 for MacMillan charity
The annual Macmillan Gulls Egg City luncheon held yesterday at the Merchant Taylors Hall raised more than £100,000 for the cancer charity.
Guests consumed 3,500 of the green-speckled eggs, which are only in season for a month every year. Due to their rarity, the eggs now cost more than £6.50 apiece.
More than 600 bankers, lawyers, wealth managers and fund managers attended the luncheon, whose current chair is Zoe Couper, founder of Couper & Partners. She has broadened the guest list to include private equity firms and Mayfair hedge funds.
Ms Couper described the luncheon as “eccentrically English. It brings people together: they can drop by for five minutes or stay for two hours. There is no agenda, no seating plan, no speeches, no auction.”
The luncheon now traditionally marks the start of the City summer season. The rumour is that an additional event will be added nearer Christmas, to be held at a venue in the West End of London (although Gulls Eggs will presumably not be on the menu).