The ARCHIE Foundation, official charity of the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital (RACH) in Aberdeen, is set to host its annual ball this Saturday at The Chester Hotel, with tickets still available. The Storybook Ball will be hosted by Scottish actor, comedian and writer Alan McHugh and funds raised during the evening will help the charity to continue supporting sick children in the North-east.
The black-tie event, based on favourite childhood storybooks, will be filled with fairy tale themed surprises, an art auction, raffles and a three-course meal.
The main feature of the evening is the art auction which will feature work from professional and community artists from around the region and afar. Their work will debut and be auctioned during the ball, with all money raised going to the children’s charity. The auction will feature one-off unique pieces of art such as a beautifully hand crafted Glass Castle by Shelagh Swanson and an oil painting of Snow White by Mary Louise Butterworth.
David Wood, chief executive of The ARCHIE Foundation, said: “The Storybook Ball is the perfect opportunity to celebrate who we are, the support we provide and raise the essential funds we need to keep doing what we do. There are just a limited number of tickets left, and we’d be delighted if you can join us for an evening of fun and fairy tales.”
In addition to the Storybook Ball, ARCHIE has secured an exclusive opportunity for a Nuart mural to be installed on the children’s hospital. On the night, Adrian Watson, chief executive of Aberdeen Inspired, will exclusively reveal more on this opportunity and will invite companies to pledge their support.
In advance of the evening, Mr Watson said: “The globally acclaimed Nuart Aberdeen festival has transformed our city centre through showcasing magnificent pieces of art for the public to enjoy. People flocked to the city in their thousands during the festival weekend but the impact goes beyond that one event as Nuart Aberdeen is without a doubt the key city centre attraction bringing year round benefits to the local economy. Our ambitions for the festival continue to grow and projects and collaborations, such as this one with ARCHIE, help further strengthen the city’s reputation as a great place to live, work and play. There’s no doubt that having a piece of Nuart on the walls of RACH will help bring a smile to people’s faces and what a unique opportunity this presents to ARCHIE’s supporters to become involved.”
David Wood continues: “We are honoured to have been given the chance to be part of the Nuart programme. This is a fantastic opportunity for supporters of ARCHIE to get involved in the fantastic festival that showcases the best of our city through art. The previous two years of Nuart Aberdeen have been extremely successful and we are thrilled that the RACH will play host to a very special Nuart production in 2019.”
In partnership with Aberdeen Inspired and Nuart, The ARCHIE Foundation is looking to appoint a culture partner to help the charity produce an exclusive installation out with the city centre, on the walls of the Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital.
Martyn Reed, director and curator of Nuart Aberdeen, said: “Nuart has a long history of working with social inclusion and charity projects, workshops for kids and education projects and has experienced first hand the physical and mental health benefits that accessible art can bring to people, particularly children. All of this of course, pales in comparison to the invaluable work of The ARCHIE foundation and RACH. It’s a huge honour to be able to partner with such esteemed and important organisations, and hopefully we can help in some small way in their mission. The artist and team are incredibly inspired by the project which we hope will win some hearts and minds whilst raising valuable funds and recognition for ARCHIE’s work.”
Anyone interested in finding out more about the Children’s Hospital Ball and making a reserve should contact ARCHIE’s director of partnerships, Cassie Thompson at cassie@archie.org.
The charity was created in 2000 as a fundraising group to support the creation of the new Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital which opened in 2004. Since then, The ARCHIE Foundation has supported more than one million children and their families that have been in the hospital.
ARCHIE can help support families by sharing grants for the provision of clothes and food to families during unexpected hospital stays to providing funding for specialist support and equipment.
