Well it’s been nearly two weeks since our charity ball came to fruition. And I must say I’m glad it’s over. 5 months in the making, with daily admin for at least a month before it, and daily meet ups every evening with Rob for two weeks before it. We did everything quite last minute…
It’s really quite lucky that Rob got glandular fever – it’s a much better excuse to postpone the expedition than because we’ve spent all our time organising a ball and haven’t done any training!
Having said that, it was definitely worth it. It was really lovely to see all our friends and family together for one night, all dressed up and looking great (photos below). A big thank you to everyone for coming.
It was an eventful evening. Richard Madley, the auctioneer (if you’re unemployed and have a penchant for mid-afternoon TV shows, then you may recognise him from Bargain Hunt and other auction related programmes), did a sterling job in entertaining and getting everyone revved up. There was a technical issue at the beginning, which was my fault, whereby the projector displayed our ultimate, surprise, and only if we had time, auction lot first. This was, of course, a splendid evening with the one and only Nick Wilkins. Richard insisted that we just got the ball rolling with Nick and despite initially miss-selling him as a single man still managed to get the crowd going. Well was it Richard or was it this photo?
And I don’t know why but Lara, my sister got top bid, for a very reasonable £300! I’m not sure she knows why either. I had a family bbq the next day and I got the impression she wouldn’t be claiming her prize…
The auction continued through the other 11 lots and we were very happy that all of them were sold and we’re hugely grateful to everyone for bidding and those for winning. We raised £23,325 from the auction alone. It’s really incredible. Here is some of the action from the evening…
Rob and I did a quick speech to thank everyone but didn’t really actually thank anyone specifically, it was more of a blanket thank you. So, I would like to take this opportunity to specifically thank some people that we couldn’t have done it without.
Suzi MacArthur – Bought, brought and arranged all the flowers on the tables, and the candles, and came to the venue a couple of times to sense check logistical things, thank you Suzi!
Lisa and Holly – This thank you shouldn’t be restricted just to the ball but for generally putting up with our boring chats about A2A, coming up with ideas and our naturally defensive positions to any sort of constructive criticism! Special thank you to Lisa who actually found the venue and who came up with the cocktail idea, and because I’m biased. Both girls painstakinly concocted different cocktails to find the perfect recipe. Apparently it was hard work. Harry Scott – Lead runner, raffler, photographer, and for sorting out my bowtie before the event.
Our event sponsors – Pip Recruitment, Harwin Property Consultants, & Carter Jonas.
A big thank you to everyone that donated auction lots and auction prizes, we’ve been bowled over by everyone’s generosity. Kind of feel like we can’t ask for any favours off any of our friends ever again though. Right enough blabbing from me, check out some of the photos and some great dance floor video action with Nick (Bilko) Wilkins once again taking centre stage. Lara, he’s free whenever you are…