Member Article

The Purple Ball of Hope raises over £6,000

Last year the Purple Ball of Hope raised over £6,000 and who would have thought we could have topped that but we did. Thanks to YOU. This year we raised a staggering ££6065.69 with more monies pledged and there was over 160 guests in attendance at the Village Hotel in Ashton making everything Purple.

The evening of the Purple Ball of Hope 2015 had finally arrived and the guests were met by the one and only Dame Edna Average as they waited excitedly at the champagne reception. The event commenced with the MC for the evening Paul Crone and while the champagne flowed and the meals were served the dinner entertainment provided by Vince Hughes was a pleasant interlude before the serious bidding got underway.

Donations were in abundance and topping the auction prizes was a 3 night full board Horse Riding Experience for 2 in the heart of Spain donated by Cortijo Uribe and won by AsOne Design. The Take That tickets from the golden envelopes was acquired by a delighted Michelle Manson, proprietor of Fairy Sparkle Ltd.

Video tributes from celebrities followed highlighting the need for the precious campaign funds. Did you know *Pancreatic Cancer receives only 1% of Government funding towards research and only 3% of patients survive for 5 years life expectancy? The statistics need to improve so increasing awareness of this terrible disease can help to raise the profile and subsequently we hope to raise even more funds.

One of the highlights of the evening was the after dinner entertainment provided by the Totally Take That Tribute Band with lead singer Dan Hadfield aka Gary Barlow who wowed the guests with a variety of ‘Take That’ top hits. The fantastic evening was concluded by the DJ Dave ‘Double Decks’ Bradley who had everyone on their feet before the events of the inspirational evening came to a close at 1pm.

After months of background organising with Dave Richardson who gels everything together to make it work seamlessly on the night, lead fundraiser and organiser Jan Lord commented,

“The Purple Ball of Hope is all about remembering my beautiful mum, Beryl Wainer and quite literally having a ball while raising money for Pancreatic Cancer UK.” “There are lots of people to thank in organising an event on this scale and making it the success it has become.” “I would like to say congratulations and a massive thank you to everyone who made it happen, the contributors, the attendees and all those people who worked tirelessly behind the scenes.”

Let’s do it all again next year!

The date has been confirmed as Saturday 16th April 2016 at the Village Hotel, Ashton u Lyne.

Contact jan@purpleballofhope.co.uk to reserve your place.

*Source Pancreatic Cancer UK

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Val Dickinson .