Actor Daniel Craig – the current 007 – has donated a signed photo-graph as a prize in a charity Casino Royale party they are throwing in aid of the endangered creatures.

The black tie dinner-dance on Saturday – complete with roulette wheels named Bond and Vespa – will raise vital cash for the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation.

Mr Watt, a communications engineer, will be taking part in an 11-day trek through Borneo next year and needs to raise just over £3,000 to help the work of the foundation.

The couple, who live at Tillynaught, struck on the idea of having a Bond-themed party, and it steadily began to grow. Up to 180 guests are expected to attend.

Top prizes on offer include the chance to drive an Aston Martin – 007's favoured mode of transport – around the track at Silverstone, as well as luxury spa days that will be the envy of any Bond girl.

All the tables have a theme based on one of the James Bond films, with plot synopsis and character descriptions, as well as name badges for guests who really want to get into the spirit.

Mrs Watt – a GP in Portsoy – said: "We wrote to all the various actors who have played Bond over the years, and received a really nice reply from Daniel Craig's PA.

"It was a note to wish us luck, and he enclosed a signed photograph which he wanted to donate as a prize. We were absolutely delighted with it.

"I've been really surprised by how much interest there has been in the orangutans, and I think that is mainly because so many people saw the BBC's Orangutan Diary. The sanctuary we are raising funds for is the same one featured in the programme.

"It showed how many of the young are orphaned because their parents have been killed with machetes or shot. You look at them and they are so much like children – you see how dependent they are on care and love and how much they need nurturing."

The gruelling trek will take place in some very challenging jungle terrain, but the hard work will all be worth it with the chance to make a brief stop at the orphanage and spend time with the orangutans.

Marguerita Watt hopes that the Casino Royale night will be a real money-spinner for the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation.

They are increasingly under threat as vast swathes of their rain forest home is being cut down and destroyed to make way for palm oil production plantations.

The World Society for the Protection of Animals is working hand-in-hand with the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation to give the fascinating creatures a fighting chance.

Mrs Watt said: "The foundation sends in rescue teams to save these starving and injured orangutans and protect them from the plantation workers, who can be paid extra by owners to kill them.

"They have now started to build a relationship with a few of the plantation owners and now, instead of harming orangutans, the owners call Borneo Orangutan Survival, who take them to the sanctuary.

"The animals arriving there have suffered and need physical and mental care. They go to the forest school, where staff teach them essential skills usually taught by their mothers, like climbing, building nests and recognising danger.

"The aim is to release all healthy orangutans back into the wild in safe areas of forest owned and managed by Borneo Orangutan Survival. Contact with humans is minimal so they forget any relationships they have built up with staff."

Mrs Watt said the Borneo trek is set to become an annual event and she would like to take part at some point in the future.

A number of tickets for the Casino Royale night, which takes place at the Mansion House Hotel in Elgin, are still available from Mrs Watt on 01261 842336 or Christine Atkinson on 843324.

l.carter@banffshire-journal.co.uk

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