This time last week I was leaving the Royal Lancaster London after spending an amazing evening with Make a Wish UK. If you don’t already know, Make a Wish are an amazing charity who help make wishes come true for critically ill children. From going to Chessington to feeding a penguin. Granting a wish can be life-changing for entire families. Every year they host different events to raise money for the charity and this year’s Valentine’s Ball was even more amazing than I anticipated.
Chiino and I turned up suited and booted (thanks to Simply Be and Jacamo for dressing us). I love any excuse to wear a dress but seeing Chiino in a bow tie was pretty damn special. We were greeted by the most lovely team from Make a Wish but also some epic volunteers who were giving up their own time to help make the evening a success. The room was full of buzz (and champagne), everyone was really friendly and it gave us a chance to see what silent auctions the event had on that evening. An amazing way of raising money for charity.
After a little champagne (or orange juice) welcome, the main hall was open and we were seated at a gorgeous table with an amazing floral entire piece. We were sat on a table with Rosie who was the absolutely amazing member of the Make a Wish PR team and some other people that although we didn’t know, I felt like we all just got on! Doesn’t happen very often. But then again, food has that way of bringing people together!
The ball was hosted by presenter and journalist Lauren Layfield, as well as presenter and magician, Archie Manners. Both were really entertaining and bubbly. The entertainment kicked off with a super performance from West End Kids, singing hits from the popular show Waitress. They were so good considering it was an intimate audience and so so talented.
We always make a joke that we’re cheap dates because we don’t really drink alcohol (I’m sure the rest of the table were happy about that) but after enjoying a gorgeous three-course meal, we were then given a little speech from the CEO of the charity along with a short video of one of the families that had benefited from the Make a Wish donations. Oh my Word. I went from laughing to crying, to laughing again. It was so emotional. We watched a video from a mum whose 3-year-old son had a wish to go tobogganing. He was 3 when he had a seizure and became critically ill. He couldn’t speak but was a VERY happy chappy. Make a Wish granted the wish and the entire family went away. The little boy & his mum were strapped up in the toboggan, going super fast! Mums natural reaction was to shout and ask if he was ok, letting him know she was there, not expecting a reply. But guess what? After not speaking since his seizure, he said yes. You could hear the absolute joy in the mum’s voice. Pure proudness. The heartbeat that only a mum feels when your baby is so close to you, doing something so new to them. My heart.
We then watched in absolute admiration as 13 wishes were financially made true by the attendees on the night. Along with an auction hosted by BBC Flog It’s Thomas Forrester where some glorious, unique gifts were up for offer. (I’ve never seen offers of money fly around so much but I was willing to go even higher!). We even got in on the action on a couple of the smaller bids, we were outpriced but at least we tried! Just knowing that money is going to help so many little ones, it’s pretty magical. Later on in the night, we were entertained by Nadine Coyle (queue the dancing) and then by a house band who kept people dancing the night away.
I really hope Make a Wish managed to get all the donations they needed that night and I hope that going forward we can make even more poorly children’s wishes come true. Find out more about the charity here and how you can make some very magical wishes come true or text WISH to 70111 to donate £3 a month.
