Charities Are The Big Winners At Midlands Press Ball

03 November 2010

Birmingham Press Club’s social highlight of the year – the annual Midlands Press Ball – proved as popular as ever, with around 200 media personalities and their guests from business and commerce attending the event, held at the Macdonald Burlington Hotel, Birmingham.

The Ball was jointly sponsored by East Midlands Airport and Birmingham Airport, with further support coming from Barclays Corporate.

Proceeds from the Ball’s legendary raffle – which had a £1,000 Thomas Cook holiday voucher as the star prize – were equally divided between Acorns Children’s Hospice and the Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance, the chosen charities of the Ball’s sponsors. Thanks to the generosity of Barclays Corporate, which matched the money raised, both charities benefitted by £1,780.

Other prizes included a two-day break at the luxurious Arden Hotel, Stratford-upon-Avon, part of Sir Peter Rigby’s Eden Hotel Collection, flights tickets and hospitality, a Four Ball at The Belfry donated by Grosvenor Casino Fiveways, and a cookery lesson in the art of Indian cuisine donated by Anita Sharma-James of The Spice Trade.

A further £300 was raised for the Birmingham Mail Charity Fund by auctioning a framed signed photograph of Birmingham City FC’s first-team squad, which was kindly donated by the football club itself.

Press Club Chairman John Lamb, thanking the sponsors and those supporters of the club who provided the prizes, said: “It is very gratifying to see how guests always dig deep into their pockets to help our chosen charities.”

He added: “Feed-back on the Ball has been extremely positive with many guests voting it as one of the best ever.”

Click here to see the pictures from the Ball.