ORGANISERS of the annual Edington Charity May Ball, held on Saturday 20th May, will be giving away more than £10,500 in the coming weeks to local hospitals and charities.
The event, now in its 18th year, has raised well over £100,000 since it started – which organisers describe as a massive return for such a small scale, village, event.
The evening included music from live bands and a two-course dinner prepared by chefs at the village pub, The Three Daggers, plus a major charity auction and raffle.
Paul Millard, from the organising committee, said, “We started this event to say thank you to the Bath Cancer Unit and the incredible work it does for so many local people – but it’s also a fantastic night out which now raises money for an extremely worthwhile, but wider, group of charities and good causes.
“We are constantly surprised at the generosity of people who donate extraordinary gifts and promises to our auction. This year we were able to auction plenty, ranging from a walk-on part in a feature film, to a weekend for ten in a luxury Dorset hideaway – and the response from the 140 people who attended was just overwhelming.”
All the money raised is donated to charity and this year will be divided between the Bath Cancer Unit Support Group, Salisbury Hospital’s STARS appeal, Edington village projects, the international response charity Re:Act, The Royal British Legion and a local woman who is raising funds for Rape Crisis England.
Chairman, John Matthews, said, “We would like to thank everyone who gave their support and made it such a terrific evening – we’re already looking forward to next year’s event when we’re hoping to raise even more money for local charities. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Three Daggers management for their incredible support and to all those individuals and organisations who generously donated to help make our auction and raffle so successful.”
