A celebration to mark the 35th anniversary of global charity WaterAid has taken fundraising by staff at Northumbrian Water to more than £33,700 across two events.
Britain’s Got Talent winner and Royal Variety performer Jai McDowall was joined by Scottish songstress Rachelle Rhienne as the entertainment at Auckland Castle, in Bishop Auckland, County Durham. The £2,500 was raised for the charity, which includes match-funding from Barclays.
The event also saw the charity receive a special blessing from the Archdeacon of Auckland, the Venerable Nick Barker. The total adds to £31,226 raised at the annual WaterAid charity ball at the Newcastle Marriott Gosforth Park Hotel last month.
WaterAid works to ease the problems of, and support, the 650 million people who live without safe water, the 2.3 billion people – that’s a third of the world’s population – who don’t have access to adequate sanitation, and the 315,000 children under the age of five who die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by dirty water and poor sanitation.
Around 150 people attended the celebrations, in the Castle’s Chapel, to mark WaterAid’s achievements, which include:
- Delivering safe water to 23 million people
- Toilets for 21 million people
- Hygiene promotion delivered to 12 million people
Entertainment at the party, which took place in Auckland Castle’s Chapel – Europe’s largest private chapel – also included a quartet made up of students from the Centre For Advanced Training at Sage Gateshead.
Andrew Blakemore, chairman of the Northumbrian WaterAid committee said: “For an event that wasn’t a fundraiser, but actually a celebration of the WaterAid charity’s achievements, it’s fantastic that we have managed to add £2,500 to the cash raised at last month’s ball.
“The work of WaterAid gives life and better health to millions of people around the world and makes us realise just how valuable a reliable and sustainable supply of clean water is.”
WaterAid is the charity partner of Northumbrian Water, supporting improvements to water, sanitation and hygiene, in 37 countries.
The event was made possible thanks to sponsorship from organisations including Gowland and Dawson, Esh Construction, Mott MacDonald Bentley and Fastflow.