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NEW
WAYS ADVENT BALL 2007
The 2007 New Ways Advent Ball was held on Friday 16th November at the five star Renaissance Chancery Court Hotel in London. This glamorous evening is one of New Ways’ prime fundraising events and has become a firm fixture in our supporters’ diaries. As well as giving New Ways’ friends and supporters the opportunity to enjoy a fabulously fun evening in gorgeous surroundings, it also raises money which makes a huge difference to the lives of the people in the communities New Ways supports. This was our 10th year of running the Ball, which has come a long way: in 1998 we had 90 guests: this year we had 250 guests! We were delighted to welcome Father Albert and some key members of the Missionary Community who work in Kenya, Ethiopia, Mexico and Bolivia. The key note speech of the evening was given by Steven Ochieng, Chair of New Ways in the UK.
The evening was a great success and the feedback we received was that this was the best ball ever. As always we started the evening with a champagne reception, allowing guests to mingle and renew old acquaintances, followed by a wonderful dinner and most importantly dancing until the small hours of the morning. It was a great start to the Christmas season!
While fun is top of the agenda, raising much needed funds for New Ways projects is equally important, and the highlight of the evening was the live auction where wonderful prizes were sold to the highest bidder. Our auctioneer this year was the former England rugby star, Chris Sheasby, who did a fantastic job driving up the prices and as a result we raised over £20,000 from the auction alone. The top prize was Neverendingglass, a beautiful artwork by American artist Charles Tebbets which went for an amazing £3,300 alone.
Overall, we raised over £60,000 from the event – our highest total ever. This will go a long way to ensuring New Ways’ projects will have the best possible support in the year ahead.
Our sincere thanks go to our sponsors, auction item donors and bidders, and all those that organised the evening. Thanks also to our supporters who bought tickets and who joined in the fundraising on the night with such enthusiasm. You made the evening a great success and we look forward to seeing you all again next year.
Best wishes
Robert Baker, Chairman of the Ball Committee
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