Last month Climb Any Mountain held their inaugural Gala Dinner and Auction to raise awareness and funds for the Transitional Living Centre initiative that will transform the services for people with intellectual disability and mental illness across South Africa.
At around 7.00pm on Friday the 25th October over one hundred and twenty guests descended on the Royal College of Surgeons in Holborn, London to take part in this glamorous evening to celebrate the progress we have made in this exciting project.
The evening started with a champagne drinks reception to the background music of Paul Lunga and his Township Jazz Band. With over forty amazing prizes donated for the auction, the guests had a chance to mingle and get a close up view of the various items they would be able to bid on throughout the evening.
At around 8.00pm the doors to the Edward Lumley Hall were opened and guests were invited to take their seats. The Master of Ceremonies for the evening, Mark Jeffery came to the front of the room to welcome everyone and set the tone for the evening ahead.
As the first course was served Climb Any Mountain’s founder Kim Crossman took the stage to thank everyone for attending a share the context behind the evening’s event. After a moving account of the personal journey behind her starting the charity she handed over to a representative from BidTech to explain interactive bidding process. With 3 iPads on each table, guests could immediately start to bid on the silent auction items. As the bids started to come in the results were projected on screen at the front of the room.
As everyone finished their main course Neil Danks, one of the Trustees took to the stage. Over the last 3 months a short film had been made on location in Pietermaritzburg to give our guests a chance to get related to the individuals that the evening was all about supporting. Once the film had ended our MC returned to the stage to introduce the next part of the evening’s entertainment. As well as the silent auction taking place Climb Any Mountain had reserved 6 top prizes to auction live on the night and our MC introduced our live auctioneer Ed Giddins to lead the next part of the night. As the desserts were served, the live auction began.
With the mix of incredible prizes, hilarious auctioneer and generous audience the live auction was a lively and engaging affair. The Rolling Stones signed guitar and signed Mohammed Ali boxing glove were the top bids raising an incredible 5,000 pounds between them.
As the live auction was completed guests were informed they had 45 minutes remaining to bid before the end of the silent auction.
With the evening’s scheduled activities at an end, Kim Crossman once again took to the stage to thank everyone for their contributions. The heads of each table were instructed to hand out the gifts they had been given at the start of the evening to the guests at their tables and the final total raised on the night was announced.
The Jazz Band continued to play and guests were invited to mingle, chat and dance the rest of the night away. The night itself was an overwhelming success with a grand total of 35,000 pounds raised once all the donations were totalled up.
Climb Any Mountain would like to thank everyone that donated a prize, volunteered on the night or attended as a guest for making this an extraordinary night.
