Leap Year Ball is a huge success for St Oswald's

Guests at St Oswald’s charity ball used their extra day in 2020 to raise £32,000 for their local hospice. Hospice friends and supporters gathered at The Crowne Plaza hotel in Newcastle on Saturday 29th February to enjoy a special evening of celebration and entertainment.

The Leap Year Ball was generously sponsored by Northern Bear plc and hosted by comedian and entertainer Steve Walls. Over 200 guests enjoyed three course meal, entertainment from Hip Operation and the North East Singing Waiters, a prize auction, competitions and raffles.

We were delighted to welcome five of the young adults who use our services, along with their families, thanks to the kindness of our friends at Santander who sponsored their table. We also used the occasion to unveil St Oswald’s brand new logo for the first time, by showing a specially commissioned video by Turps Film, telling ‘our story.’

A fast paced auction proved to be very popular, including the sale of the final elephant, Allsorts, from our popular Elmer’s Great North Parade campaign last year. Allsorts sold for an impressive £6,000 and is already settled into her new home.

A special part of the evening saw a video shown, demonstrating the ways that St Oswald’s strives to help patients enjoy quality time with their families.

Guests heard the stories of adults and children who use our services and learned how often, it’s the little things that can make a big difference at a difficult time. There was an opportunity for guests to make a donation towards a fund to pay for trips out, special celebrations and little treats to make our patients smile. We were delighted that over £1,500 was raised on the night to start the fund off. You can watch this moving video and make a donation to the fund here.

Our Chief Executive, James Ellam said:

Our annual balls are always a huge highlight in our fundraising calendar, and the Leap Year was a perfect theme to help us celebrate and reflect on the important work of the hospice, Our patients often don’t know how long they have with their loved ones, so we decided to make our extra day in 2020 count – and it certainly was a night to remember.

 

The atmosphere was just fantastic and our guests seemed to be having a brilliant time. We are so grateful to everyone who came along to support the event, participated in our games and auctions and made a donation towards our work. £32,000 is a huge sum and will go towards providing specialist care to local families when they need it most.

A huge thank you goes out to our sponsors, Northern Bear Plc, the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Big Purple Productions, Grand Hotel Gosforth Park who donated our fizz, our host Steve Walls, all of our generous prize donors and of course, you, our wonderful guests who made the night so special!

We are excited to announce that our 2021 ball will take place on Saturday 6th March – put it in your diaries and we’ll announce further information in the coming months.