Village Charity Ball raises £7,000

The annual Edington charity May Ball, held on the village playing field on Saturday 26th May, raised £7,000 for charity.

The event – now in its fourteenth year – has raised nearly £80,000 since it started – which organisers describe as a massive return for such a modest, village, event. The evening includes music from live bands and a two-course dinner, prepared by chefs at the village pub, The Three Daggers, plus a major charity auction and raffle.

The money will be divided between the Bath Cancer Unit Support Group, The Felix Fund, which supports the army’s bomb disposal experts and their families who have been injured in the course of their work, and for local and village causes.

Paul Millard from the organising committee said, “We started this event to say thank you to the Bath Cancer Unit and the incredible work it does on all our behalves – but it’s also a fantastic night out which now raises money for an extremely worthwhile – but wider – group of charities and good causes.”

Next year’s Ball has already been planned for Saturday 25th May – and the committee is looking to explore ways of offsetting the cost of marquee hire, perhaps by allowing other local groups to use the marquee over the bank holiday weekend.

Paul continued, “We use the marquee on the Saturday night, but because it is free on the Sunday and the Bank Holiday Monday, we are interested in looking at the option of other groups using the marque, perhaps for their own fund-raising event.

“Clearly, this is still at the exploratory stage, and we will need to seek agreement from the parish council and the cooperation of The Three Daggers, but costs are rising all the time and we want to try to manage that by looking at different options,”

Any organisations interested in exploring options can contact Paul Millard on 07920 611180.