Charity Dinner 2017

Twenty-two of Leyland Trucks top suppliers and their guests came together and raised an outstanding amount of over £12,000 on the most memorable night of the year ‘The Annual Charity Dinner’!

This year’s theme took place around the Mad Hatters Tea Party.  Crazy, wacky and fun decorations formed an array of miss-matching colours splashed around the room, to add to what was going to be the start of a fantastic fund raising night for Helping Hand Charity.

As the guests entered the crazy world of Mad Hatter, a welcoming glass of prosecco tantalised their taste buds ready for the night’s event.  Also, included this year on each supplier tables were an extra little treat of ‘Eat Me’ sweetie delights and a ‘Drink Me’ bottle of fizz to show off the theme to its full potential.

To kick start the evening ‘Neale Handley’ (Chairman of the Helping Hand) welcomed some familiar and new faces.  Neale spoke about some of the great achievements Helping Hand have done over the past year and how this evening (every year) helps raise considerable amounts for the Charity.

With so much to do in such a short space of time the meal commenced. Promptly afterwards the fun and games started with two games in particular ‘Reverse Bingo' and 'Heads & Tails‘ which are always a favourite at the Charity Dinner and it just wouldn’t be the same without them, this year’s lucky winners both bagged themselves an iPad Mini each… without a doubt two fun games to get everyone in the swing of things.

Now for the serious stuff... the Auction! This has to be our main fundraiser of the night which was energetically orchestrated by Peter Jukes, with a new ‘roving reporter’ type approach. A head to head battle of who can win the final bid of some excellent items – BTCC, Little Mix tickets, Cookery Course at Northcote and a signed Liverpool shirt to name a few.  All the items were kindly donated by our table hosts; and their generosity each year is phenomenal.  

Running along smoothly in the background we held a Silent Auction, a few of the items donated were Supercar Driving blast experience, round of golf for four and a signed Steven Gerrard picture.

Our final fundraiser of the night was the raffle, a selection of interesting prizes were won from a notepad and pen to a 45`` TV and not forgetting the prize which a few of the Helping Hand committee members wanted to win… the cuddly toy!

With the fun and games coming to a close and everyone raring for a dance or keen to queue for a pose or two on the always popular photo booth. Neale Handley closed the evening with a special thanks to suppliers, guests, committee members, Park Hall Staff and introduced the entertainment for the evening ‘The Cave’ a Mumford & Sons-styled Classics Band. Before we knew it, the dance floor was roaring with a lot of dance enthusiasts (you know who you are), which carried on until the early hours.

A truly marvellous evening... but one thing we will never forget is the purpose of the evening - our main goal - to raise as much money as possible for worthy causes!

Photo bombed by the Chairman!