Charity ball success raises almost £2000 for British Heart Foundation

Lily Goodall from Waterlooville, began organising a charity ball in aid of the British Heart Foundation in June and on Saturday, October 9, the event was held at the Royal Maritime Club in Portsea.

Lily first began the fundraising effort as a ‘spare of the moment’ idea, but was extremely pleased with the way it all came together on the night in such a short amount of time, raising £1,860 in total from both the auction and raffle held on the evening.

Lily was accompanied by 120 guests made up of her close family and friends, as well as all 30 members of Bernards Estate agents, where Lily works in North End, Portsmouth. The ‘supportive’ owner of the business, Daniel Byrne, offered to sponsor Lily’s fundraising efforts as soon as he found out about it.

‘I only targeted about £1,000, you know being my first time ever doing something like this, but we were well over-target which was really great,’ says Lily.

Lily praised the efforts of the local community, Portsmouth Golf Course and John Jenkins Glassware to name a few, coming together to support the charity event and donating prizes and money to the cause.

‘I think it was really nice how many local businesses got involved, so many local businesses donated vouchers and other valuable prizes, it was lovely’, Lily says.

The evening began with a champagne reception, followed by dinner and a lively performance from the Hampshire based band NeoRoots, setting the tone for a good-natured evening of entertainment.

‘The band were really good and then we had a DJ, so the rest of the night it was like party-on’, Lily says.

Lily’s choice to support the British Heart Foundation, an organisation which funds over £100 million of research each year into heart and circulatory diseases and the things that cause them, is close to her heart.

‘My grandad passed away from a heart attack, my mum and my brother have a heart condition and my nan’s just gone into heart failure’, says Lily.

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Lily expressed her appreciation of the help and support given to her in the lead up to the event, particularly from partner Kyle Davies and her mum dad and brother, Sharon and Ryan Goodall who also helped organise the ball and allowed her to raise money for the cause.

William Ham, fundraising manager for Hampshire and Isle of Wight said: ‘I would like to say a huge heartfelt thank you to Lily. Our life saving research is only made possible thanks to generous donations like this.’

‘The good thing about the British Heart Foundation is that the money is distributed locally within Portsmouth, so the money raised goes towards the actual area. So it’s going towards defibrillators on your local buses and shops’, says Lily.

To find out more or donate to the British Heart Foundation visit bhf.org.uk.

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