Cinderella ball raises more than £9,000 for this Blackpool charity

The evening of entertainment was organised by Blackpool Victoria Hospital medical secretary Gill Booth, to provide funds for Blackpool Carers’ Centre which helps people across the Fylde who look after poorly relatives.

The annual event, back for the first time since the pandemic lockdowns, was held at the Clifton Arms Hotel and Gill said it had been a great success, raising £9,776 for the charity.

She said: “Comedian Joey Blower came along free of charge and did all the auctions, which were fantastic, making the evening even more special. There was also a guest appearance from Steven Hall, previous runner up on Britain’s got talent with his break dancing routine which was a lovely surprise.

“Everybody at the event said they had a wonderful time and the feedback afterwards has been terrific.

“We had Tony Benedict singing at the drinks reception and throughout the meal with Paul Dobie and Gabor Jonas (saxophonist) playing music for dancing later on.

“The atmosphere at the Clifton Arms was fantastic and the food was outstanding, Bernard Johnson did a great job managing the whole event, we really are grateful to him for his support.”

She said she was hoping to repeat the event, which featured dinner, drinks entertainment and an auction, next year.

She added: “We can’t thank the Windmill Community Benefit Group enough for sponsoring the event, we are so grateful.

“Darrell and Dave Nelson were kind enough to attend the event and took every single person’s photograph which can be found on our website.

“We have been overwhelmed with the kindness people have shown during the planning for this event, thank you to everyone. The amount of people who gave up their time for free and the wonderful raffle and auction prizes we had donated were fabulous.”

A spokesman for Blackpool Carers, which has its headquarters at Beaverbrooks House, in Newton Drive, Blackpool, said they were delighted to get the support: “Proceeds from the Cinderella ball will provide vital funding to help us to continue to support young carers, some as young as five years old.”