Claire Seymour, owner of the Top-to-Toe salon in Skelton, and her team of beauty therapists have formed belly dancing troupe The Turkish Delights to entertain guests at The Grinkle Park Hotel on 14th November. They have been rehearsing for eight months and it’s all to raise money for The Eleanor Rose Foundation, a charity that was formed in memory of local girl Ellie Jeffery.
Claire first met Ellie when she started visiting the salon for beauty treatments. She became fond of her, and followed her blog about her cancer journey, writtenoff.net. Ellie’s family had booked into the salon for Ellie’s wedding day in 2012, but sadly Ellie died just weeks before her wedding.
Claire says: “I felt I couldn’t just erase her mum’s appointments from my diary so I called to see her and asked if I could do a charity event to raise money for the Eleanor Rose Foundation. That year we raised £1,500. The following year £3,317. Last year we raised £3,273. This year we are combining a fashion show (supported by local boutique Ollie B and fashion designer Zoe Jayne) with our belly-dancing performance and a raffle supported by local businesses.”
Tom Thostrup, Ellie’s fiancé, who established the Eleanor Rose Foundation, will be attending the event. He explains: “Thanks to the efforts of our incredible fundraisers like Claire our charity can continue to support local adults who are living with cancer, by giving them access to free and discounted products and services. We have given away more than 700 freebies this year alone!”
The troupe will be performing at the Grinkle Park Hotel on 14th November and are encouraging donations to their fundraising page https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/claireseymour1
If you represent a business considering offering a product or a service to adults living with cancer please email info@eleanorrose.org