BIRMINGHAM, U.K. -- Real estate investor Richard Lillycrop was lucky enough to meet the cast of The Vampire Diaries at the Insurgence 5 event in Birmingham, last weekend, organised by WCM Events Ltd. The event attracted several thousand fans of the TV series.

"I was honored to be in the presence of such an inspiring group of people" said Richard Lillycrop. "Their limitless energy and friendliness towards everyone was amazing."

The star of the show was Ian Somerhalder who plays Damon Salvatore on the show. You may think that Ian is just a pretty face from a popular TV series, but in 2010 Ian started the Ian Somerhalder Foundation, which highlights global environmental issues such as deforestation, pollution and the extinction of animal species. Ian's enthusiasm for life and meeting people comes across the second you meet him. He makes everyone he talks to feel special and takes the time to listen to what people are saying.

Ian was joined by co-star Candice Accola (Caroline). Candice is involved heavily with promoting the Tick Borne Disease Alliance and was the spokesperson for the Turn the Corner Foundation before it joined forces with TBDA.

Also attending was Michael Trevino (Tyler), Matt Davis (Alaric), Kat Graham (Bonnie), Nathaniel Buzolic (Kol), Todd Williams (Connor), Rick Worthy (Rudy) and Sebastian Roche (Mikael). Each of who support many more charities such as The Water Project and Operation Smiles.

What is amazing about these actors is they spend 10 months of the year filming The Vampire Diaries, mostly 12 hours or more each day, then in the small amount of free time they have available, travel around the world giving back to their fans and publicising the charities and foundations they are involved with.

"I never realised how hard these actors work. Even attending an event like this, they literally spend the whole day meeting, greeting and making the people they meet feel special", Richard said.