CHAS is delighted to announce that the Winter Wonderland event at the Marcliffe Hotel in December raised £75,000 to support children with life shortening conditions.
The sparkling afternoon featured Edward Reid as host and an auction hosted by Alex Fleming with fabulous pieces of art and experiences including the chance to spend an afternoon with the King’s pony Cruachan IV.
Guests generously took part in fundraising games as well as enjoying a delicious meal, plenty of fizz and wonderful entertainment from Glitz Band.
Traicey Robertson, mum to Jason and David, spoke about Jason and how CHAS helped the whole family live the best life they possibly could when he was very ill. David spoke about how much his brother meant to him. Their moving speeches and the discussion between Gillian Donald, both trustee of CHAS and mum to Finlay, who died of a rare disease when he was 11 years old and Louise Esson, the Aberdeen based CHAS Diana specialist paediatric nurse, kept the whole room spellbound. Gillian and Louise discussed the importance of CHAS’s work locally and how it supports children and families to live well during their short lives and when the time comes for their child to die, to do that in a safe and protected place, with CHAS specialist support.
CHAS is grateful to the Aberdeen Ladies Lunch Committee, who play a huge part in organising the event and sadly say goodbye to Alison Maver, who is stepping down from the Committee this year. She has been involved with the event for 12 years and contributed to raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for CHAS.
Rami Okasha, chief executive of CHAS, said: “Events like the Winter Wonderland are vital to our CHAS fundraising and ensure that no family has to face the death of their child alone. Thank you to all the guests for their generosity and the Committee for organising such a fabulous event.”