Up The Farway Tree

Oh What a Night...

The Ball was a huge success!!! The total (so far) is just over £12,100!!

It was rather manic getting all the prizes, programmes, table decorations etc down to Oran Mor in time but we did it - we franticly set up, put things on tables, tied butterflies round candelabras and in the middle of it all Kirsty managed to find time to do my hair. Priories and all that ;-)

Now it is no longer secret I can tell you about the evening's format! The tables were lit by beautiful candelabras, creating a lovely atmosphere for a Masquerade Ball. Each guest received a flower seed packet - with the message to be planted in memory of our donors. Of course organ donation and LLTGL leaflets were on all tables! The evening started with guests arriving around 7ish with amazing masks and beautiful dresses. Victoria had made a fab seating plan for all the tables. The meal was fantastic although funnily enough I did not feel very hungry! When coffee was served Team Glasgow got up to welcome everyone and I was nominated to speak - you know how I like to be on a stage :-) We also tried to give a little background to our stories and why we were here tonight. Our hosts, comedians, Jay Lafferty and Scott Agnew then came on to introduce the acts. We had two fantastic classical singers, who sung throughout the slide show we produce - with pictures of people waiting on transplant, post transplant, those who have lost their life waiting and organ donors. We had a slight technical hitch due to my laptop decided to ignore the fact a projector was attached, but Andrew got it working in time for the 2nd song. We then had another singer Mhari, who was amazing and did quite a few songs from musicals. Some tables were then moved to make way for our masked ballet dancers! These were girls from the Theatre School Victoria works at, called Confidance. They were fantastic! It was then time for the band, who were also fantastic and there was plenty dancing to lead us up to a break just after 11pm to draw the raffle, announce silent auction winners and do some loud auction prizes. Also going on all night was an amazing tombola -I think there were nearly 300 prizes and we made the odds of winning pretty good so most things were won :-) This was a big hit and we were so lucky to have some volunteers from Santander helping us out - we couldn't have done it without them. Also on offer were professional photographs to buy (printed on the night) and a special cocktail at the bar, £1 of each purchase being donated to our final total.

Another hi light of the night was Kirsty singing 'My Hero' by the Foo Fighters, in memory of her donor.  It was an emotional performance and everyone thought it was amazing.  The night flew in but everyone seemed to be having a great time and there was a wonderful atmosphere in the room. It was such a celebration of us still being here, still standing and looking to the future - and hoping we can help others also get this opportunity.  I will leave you with a few photos to give a taste of the evening..

The Ball Room

Ballet Dancers

Me talking away..

 My mask..

Kirsty singing