Mike Tindall (pictured with Zara) is a Grapevine ambassador
Joe Giddens – PA Images/Getty Images
‘It’s a members’ club that I actually enjoy using,’ says Mike Tindall, a Grapevine ambassador. ‘It has lovely members and provides lots of interesting, and relevant content. It’s great for getting the word out there about charity events and finding or promoting all sorts of things within a trusted network.’ Alice Fox-Pitt, the ITV Racing presenter and former eventer and National Hunt Jockey, says: ‘I use this network continually when trying to find help, holidays and have been blown away by the variety of stuff I have found out about, and had access to, since being a member. It is also fun to read and I have come across so many new opportunities and brands I was not aware of.’
The club is the brainchild of Christie, a former three-day event rider who represented Great Britain before enjoying huge global success as a salesperson at Cisco. In 2019, she ventured online and founded Grapevine. ‘The desire to help is something I probably got from my father, Mike Wilson, who was founder of St. James’s Place Wealth Management,’ she told Tatler, reflecting on the decision to branch out. ‘He set up a charitable trust some years ago that I now run and this has given me a real interest and desire to support charities and people in need.’
What started with a network of friends and friends-of-friends has organically expanded to a community of international proportions. ‘As my routes were in the Cotswolds, that is where the network began and this was no doubt reflected in the club’s demographics. As Grapevine has grown, it has become more evenly split, with nearly 2,000 in London and more all over the world, including about 300 in the States.’
For Grapevine, the future is global. www.thegrapevineworks.com
