On Friday 8th July around 250 guests will attend the Children North East 125th anniversary summer party at the Marriott hotel Gosforth Park.The summer party is Children North East’s primary fundraising event and this year, as our 125th anniversary, it is set to be extra special. We are proud to consider it the best charity party of the summer season.
This year will feature a special dinner, both live and silent auctions, live entertainment from local band the 125 Specials, tombola (which has proven to be a firm favourite), photo booth and dancing until the early hours, and many more.
We are delighted and very grateful to have received a donation from Sir Richard Branson for our live auction, of two Virgin Atlantic Airlines economy tickets to any applicable destination in the world, for use in the next twelve months. The winner could be off to New York, Johannesburg, Hong Kong, Dubai, or the Caribbean. As a small charity with very localised work, this was an extremely generous donation from Sir Richard Branson and has made our live auction even more exciting than usual.
Other prizes in the live auction include a 4-star Scandinavian-style Kielder Water chalet short break; the chance to operate the ‘blinking eye’ Newcastle Millennium Bridge, or a personal tour to the top of Grey’s Monument.
The summer party comes one week after the Children North East annual sandcastle challenge at Sandhaven beach, South Shields. This year 1,700 children from 48 primary and special schools made sand creations on the theme of ‘Quayside to Seaside’, supported by dozens of local businesses.
The sandcastle challenge is a nod to our beginnings as the Poor Children’s Holiday Association, where we took hundreds of thousands of local impoverished children, over the years, to the seaside for a treat. Even today, for some children this is their first trip to the seaside.
Children North East Chief Executive Jeremy Cripps said, “I am overwhelmed by Sir Richard’s generosity. We have a close relationship with Virgin Trains East Coast, who raise money for Children North East. All the money raised at the Summer Party helps us provide emotional support for children, young people and their families in our region. We look forward to this being our best year yet.”
Children North East is an independent children’s charity based in the North East, and has been working to transform the lives of Children for 125 years, helping them to grow up happy and healthy.