There’s nothing quite like a Birthday Ball!
 
Last month our directors, a few of our staff members and some of our valued clients attended the Percy Hedley 70th Birthday Ball and it was most certainly an evening to remember. 

The Percy Hedley Foundation is a treasured client of ours who supports people with complex learning difficulties, disabilities, and additional communication needs. Their work involves providing special education care and support to people, as well as, offering them accommodation and lifelong learning opportunities at their two schools, college, homes, and Horizon's lifelong learning service. Just last year alone they supported 650 people and families with their 1000+ dedicated and passionate staff employed across the North East.

Their Birthday Ball was the ultimate occasion to celebrate all of these outstanding achievements and continue to support their essential work in the heart of the North East.

We were greeted with a decadent spread of drinks and popping champagne before entering the ballroom which was adorned with purple and green balloons and décor! Our hosts for the evening, Anna and Alfie, did a brilliant job of guiding the event, giving us plenty of giggles whilst also supporting raising awareness about fundraising on the evening.

It goes without saying that we were all absolutely star-struck by the appearance and performance of Britain’s Got Talent 2018 winner; Lost Voice Guy, who raised the roof with his one-off laughtastic set! A real highlight of the night for us all. Bingo Bonanza was also a real standout event from the evening. Naturally, we all couldn’t resist the bingo card excitement – so much so that one of our clients ended up in a dance-off after two calls were made at the same time! There’s nothing we love more than some dance-off drama.

We were also thrilled to be able to tuck into some scrumptious dishes throughout the course of the evening – the apple crumble was a stand-out for a lot of us!

Additionally, we were elated to be able to win a pledge during the heated live auction. There was real competition for bids such as the opportunity to learn BSL alongside some Percy Hedley students and having an equality and diversity masterclass delivered by Percy Hedley students at your workplace. When it came to bidding to fund a Percy Hedley residential trip for 23 young people though, we knew this was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up on! Therefore, when we were able to successfully win the bid (as you can imagine) we were absolutely ecstatic! We truly couldn’t be prouder to have been able to offer this opportunity to 23 of Percy Hedley’s deserving young people. Being able to support a client in such a way means the world to us – we love being able to work so closely with all our clients, and this was another wonderful way we could continue this.

The evening commenced with our troupe taking to the dance floor to enjoy a boogie to the live performance by the popular local band Hip Operation. Nothing beats some classic tunes and dancing with our clients! Topped off with bacon and sausage sandwiches and a goodie bag to take home, this was an evening we all adored.

Getting to be a part of such a commemorative and important evening meant so much to us, and we were absolutely thrilled to attend and be a part of it. We’ll be eagerly counting down the days until next year’s celebration!