2013 BHF Ball

Saturday 17 August 2013

In aid of The British Heart Foundation

Amount raised: £1085

Running total to date:  £28568

The evening of the ball seemed to come around very quickly this year but our organisation for it was very much a last minute flurry of activity - or at least the last couple of weeks were, with lots of trans Pennine phone calls and executive decisions! 

We still can't decide if it was all left so late because we are really good at it by now - or if we had just got a bit complacent and thought that it would all be right on the night - probably a bit of both! 

But it didn't matter as it all worked out well and it looked MORE than alright on the night!  The room and tables looked FAB-U-LOUS (very sleek and chic we thought!) and we were very pleased with the results and the comments, feedback and compliments we received.

 
A lot of the preparation for this ball was done the evening before by Beechy, Jules and Aunt Margaret - the tables were dressed and the name cards were put in place, the chairs covers were put on and the organza bows were fluffed and tied under the watchful gaze of Julie.  This took the pressure off on the Saturday morning and meant that things could proceed at a more leisurely pace - and Ian could get to his football in the afternoon while we added the finishing touches!

The napkins had been beautifully folded by Sam and her team of Elms staff into red and white fans - really effective and pretty - and a simple red satin runner was added to complete the look.

The table centres this year were a single lily spray with a sprig of green foliage set into a tall vase filled with clear water pearls.  A small light was placed in the bottom of the vase and this was placed on a mirror scattered with red and silver twinkling diamante beads.  Very simple but very classy and effective we thought!

We were a little concerned about how the room would look this year as our guest numbers were down slightly in comparison to previous years.  Several of our regular parties of attendees were either on holiday or about to go away.  The date of this ball was about two weeks later than usual due to it being the only time that the band and the room could be booked together and we thought that the room might appear a little empty - but it didn't at all and we were very pleased with the result.

We had already decided a few months ago that we would give the ball events a rest for a while and not hold them on alternate years as we have been doing.  This was due to cost rather than numbers as, although they are lovely to prepare for and attend, we have now added (more by accident than design!) another annual event around February time and we are aware that we always seem to be asking for money from you!  (Plus I can't cope with the tension of Julie leaving her frock buying until the last possible minute and then having the trauma of 'will it, won't it fit?' - and we won't mention shoe buying... [I  said we won't mention shoe buying...])

But don't worry - we will still be holding an annual summer event and it will make the balls more special when they come around!

But sorry - I digress!...
 

Our table favours for the ladies this year were a beautiful single cream rose stem with pink edged petals.  These were donated by Rachel of Ten Green Bottles (Coffee shop, Market Square, Retford) so a huge thank you for that - they were really lovely.

The men were given heart shaped lapel pins from the BHF - and it was nice to see them all being worn on the suits and shirts through the evening.

More roses were placed in the entrance foyer and guests were offered a glass of buck's fizz in the conservatory as they arrived.

John was our photographer for the evening and he managed to take photos of everyone as they came through to the room.  Well nearly everyone - it wasn't until later that we realised that Julie had once again managed NOT to have her photo done with Ian - although once again she had NOT managed to escape the obligatory sibling group picture (even though she is still being contrary and looking in the opposite direction to everyone else!)

 
John did a great job for us and he then rushed off home to produce some proof shots which he brought back so we were able to take orders from them later. 

Thank you John for your help with this - it really was appreciated!

The day before the ball we had been disappointed to find out that David, our cousin and his wife Christine would not be able to attend due to his health problems.  He had suffered a heart attack in September last year and had seemed to be making a good recovery but has recently had one or two setbacks. 

As previously mentioned heart conditions are rife in our family with three cousins in different branches of the family now with stents as well as David with his problems - which is why we are so keen to support the BHF and its work in this field.

We missed you David and Christine and we want to wish you a speedy recovery so that you can soon be back boogying on the dance floor! GET WELL SOON! x

So back to the charity night...

The evening started with an announcement from Beechy which resulted in the usual dignified (not!) scramble to search under the seats for the 'winner' tickets in order to bag a box of chocs from Jules. 

There were also two 'loser' tickets added this year - the prizes were something to do with cats I think!!


Everyone settled down and prepared to enjoy their evening...

The main course for the meal this year was a choice of chicken in a leek and bacon cream sauce or roast beef with Yorkshire pudding - both served with lovely 'al dente' vegetables.  The chicken was absolutely YUM and I am assured that the beef was tender and tasty too.

We had one game of stand up bingo and Callum was in charge of the 'name the teddy' for the evening - thanks Cal!

As they had been so well received last year our band were once again the magnificent 'Heroes' ...

Great lighting, costumes, songs and atmosphere so of course we had to dance!... 

And we all just kept on dancing...

 But we also did a bit of singing and waving - to Daydream Believer - one we know the words to!...

... although some were more enthusiastic than others...

Our raffle was a big one as it is every year - with the usual selection of hampers, bottles, tickets and vouchers - once again a huge thank you to all who donated.  I know that we keep saying this but we REALLY couldn't do it without your help and generosity.

And many thanks to Connor and Callum who did all the raffle prize delivery running around for the evening - under the supervision of Uncle/Great Uncle Robin who was having a night off from anything too strenuous due to being kn.. tired out from building his supershed (but that's another story..)  Thanks dudes!

 We had a lot of prizes which were unclaimed on the night but several of our regular attendees who were unable to be there had bought raffle tickets instead so we had our own mini raffle re-run again the following morning, matching names to tickets to prizes!  It all worked out just fine and Aunt M was very happy with her cup cakes!  (Although I think that Julie was happier as she volunteered to deliver them - in return for a cup of tea etc..)

Beechy manned the disco for us again this year as Ben was unavailable - thanks Beechy!  I think he enjoys being on his decks - it's the nearest thing he gets to a rest all evening as he is able to stand still for a few minutes!!

Just one question though - what's happening here Beechy??

 Are you planning on hanging up your headphones and taking on an apprentice?! Go Cal!



Callum also took over from Mike as event photographer for part of the evening (he was a busy lad!)  I don't think that Julie was too pleased about being 'papped' so much though...

Julie's favourite photo of the night ... her behind the rose! 

That's Robin behind the lily - and this was just before my 'Wayne's World' moment when I did a bit of head banging to Bohemian Rhapsody and shot my tiara over my left eye!!..

This is the tiara which should have been held firmly in place in the Audrey Hepburn upswept hairstyle (or Patsy from Ab Fab - I wasn't bothered which!) that I'd had pinned and primped at my regular hairdresser before leaving to come to Retford.  By the time I arrived across the Pennines I was already looking a bit wispy and by mid afternoon I was looking quite deranged and bedraggled with hair all over the place as it wouldn't stay in place.  So much for my chic and elegant style!  So the tiara was basically being used as a hairband!  This was my second 'hairgate' ball disaster (same thing at the ball before last) so I am giving up on long hair and tiaras from now on...

But anyway - here are more of our party revellers having fun...

This is our little (well he was at one time!) nephew Connor in some of his poses...

... although to be fair - he probably didn't know that most of the pics were being taken! (Cal with the camera!)

This is Rex drinking aftershocks - don't think he was enjoying them but he kept persevering!..

 

Robin seemed to know this lady quite well (and we are told that she thinks that he is wonderful [but so do we!]) and although she looked a bit familiar we weren't sure why!  It turns out that they were neighbours at one stage - and she was also a friend of mum's!  In fact she attended our first charity event and appears on the first blog sitting next to mum.  None of us had made the connection - John - Robinson - Flo. Small world isn't it - but we always knew her as Mrs Robinson - so it was lovely to see you at our event again Mrs Robinson!

Here are some of the pictures taken by John our photographer - many thanks to those of you who bought them on the evening - hope that you like them!  If you click onto the 2013 link on the banner at the top of the blog's main page then you will find more pictures there.  Enjoy!..

So that's it for another year!  Another successful evening thanks to you all and your generosity!  Although our numbers were down we still made enough to be able to give a good donation for the BHF and we were very pleased with our evening.

Thank you to everyone for everything - you make these evenings possible!  We hope that you enjoyed it as much as we did.

More info about our next event in the introduction blog.

THANK YOU!