Cancer charity dinner dance raises £40,000

Kenneth Harvey (host) with two of his 'volunteers' - his niece Jenny Spence and his nephew David Clugston.

Hope for Tomorrow is a small new charity that supplies, equips and maintains mobile chemotherapy and cancer care units for rural areas such as Lincolnshire.

The mobile unit ‘Elaine’ comes to Louth hospital every Wednesday, meaning that patients in remote villages can be treated closer to home, reducing the stress and time in travelling.  All the money raised at the dinner dance will be allocated for Lincolnshire.

Kenneth Harvey and the committee, Gaynor Maskery, Catie Page, Daphne Spoor and Jo McCulloch, started to plan the event a year ago and Kenneth has been amazed by the support of many local people and businesses.

Guests at the fundraising dinner dance in Louth.

Mr Harvey said: “Andrew Leonard of The Mansion House gave needed expert advice, while Roger Burnett of Laceby Manor Golf Club designed and printed the auction catalogues and was exceptionally generous in gifts for both the raffle and auction.

“Much of the buffet dinner was donated as was the Champagne reception and the entire proceeds of the gin bar.

“Table flowers were given by All Occasions of Louth, and Poppy Nicholson created a tremendous floral arrangement on one wall of the marquee.”

Bill Cuff, a long-standing friend of Mr Harvey, was the auctioneer on the night, and the 23 lots generated over £13,000 towards the total.

One week in a villa in Croatia, donated by Nisha Driver, was knocked down at £1,900, while a pair of Ralph Lauren antler candlesticks made by Mr Harvey’s former company, Redmile London, sold for an impressive £1,250.

The silent auction attracted some remarkable bids including £420 for two limited edition photographs of the Queen at Cowdray Park, and a set of four Archibald Thorburn limited edition prints of game birds made £250 against a starting price of £30.

The same buyer secured an unusual Japanese ‘okimono’, carved as a corn cob, for £100, and a Pirelli 1974 calendar raised £200.

The event was attended by over 230 guests, while over 30 helpers, both paid university students and volunteers, worked throughout the night in the kitchen and bars, and waited at tables.

Mr Harvey said: “The atmosphere from the start was remarkable. Two representatives of the charity were at the evening and the Lincolnshire based volunteer Elizabeth Murray gave a speech on the costs of the mobile units and the numbers of patients who were treated both nationally and in Lincolnshire, and the importance of the charity to cancer patients in rural areas.”

Mr Harvey continued: “I would like to give a special thank you to the truly remarkable Twink Addison, the well known Lincolnshire artist, who designed everything from the invitations to the raffle  tickets, and worked tirelessly for weeks before the event, on the day, and the days after.

“Twink was responsible for bringing the whole thing together, and without her, it would not have been the success it was. She is a truly remarkable human being.

“Twink also donated one of her original cartoons that had been published earlier this year by the satirical magazine Private Eye which sold at the charity auction for over £400.”