OC Ball 2008
I am delighted to be able to report that our first OC fundraising Ball, which took place in November 2008, was a huge success.
The event was held at the London Hilton (Docklands) and attended by just under 200 people making it a complete sell out. What’s even more fantastic is that, despite the ‘credit crunch’ we still managed to raise £11,500!
This was my first attempt at holding such a large scale event and I hadn’t a clue what I was doing.
Jenny (second from right) is pictured here with (left to right) Rachael Rawlings, Kelly Taylor, Lesley Bender and Kelly Ivil.
The next
‘thank you’ must go to everyone who donated their services to this
event. Without their generosity we could not have raised as much as we
did. They are listed in the programme of events further on in
this report and if I have missed anyone out please do forgive me and
let me know so that I can add your name to the list.
I also want to thank
all of you who attended the event (and those who didn’t but still made
donations) and who dug deep into your pockets! The money
raised has already been given to Imperial College, London to help
continue the research and Professor Catherine Williamson has asked me
to pass her gratitude on to all of you.
It was
certainly an evening to be remembered and more importantly it helped to
raise awareness of this very complex and often anxiety provoking
condition. I know that many of the people attending were friends of
those of us who have had OC and who perhaps didn’t completely
understand what the condition entails. I think the film made for the
event by Jackie Smith, Heirloom Productions, who has also had OC, was
able to convey the distressing effects of OC and illustrated just how
important it is for us to continue to raise awareness, provide support
to women and families affected by the condition and to continue the
research.
Finally, I would also
like to pay tribute to all those parents who allowed us to use the
names of their babies for our ‘star’ table markers. These stars
represented those babies who have died because of OC and sadly one of
those stars was for a very recent stillbirth. We remember not only
their parents and families but also all the other OC stillborn babies
from the UK and around the world.
I would very much like to host another OC Ball either in June or November 2010 so if you feel you would be able to offer your help in any way please do contact me: jennychambersoc@aol.com.
Below are some photos from the event together with a copy of the evening’s programme. If you went to the Ball and you have any photos from it that you would like to see included in this piece please do let me know.
 Jenny with her sons, Tim and Alex |
 Di and Steve Gurrey |
 Chris Rawlings and Justin Day |
 Justin and Karen Day |
 Celia and Peter Woods |
 Fred Meek, Nikki Meek, Jamie Hill, Rachel Hill, Amanda Munday and Gordon Cannell |
 Jamie and Rachel Hill |
 Lisa Ward and Adeline Towers |
 Emma and Paul Wright |
 Claire Taylor, Michaela Basford, Anna Atkinson, Kate Wainforth, Natalie Crooks |
 Claire and Darrin Taylor |
 Kate and Chris Wainforth |
 Natalie and Toby Crooks |
 Kent and Anna Atkinson |
 Kent Atkinson, Steve Basford, Chris Wainforth, Toby Crooks, Darrin Taylor |
 Steve and Michaela Basford |
 Rebecca Rawlings and Jacky Byrne |
The Cape Town accommodation and holiday cottages were kindly donated by Kelly and James Taylor, Caroline and Graeme Whiting – Meadow Holidays – and Mark Delaney and his partner Claire.
