CHILDREN FIRST DERBY LADIES LUNCH EVENT PROVES TO BE A SELL OUT SUCCESS

Added by Love Business East Midlands | 14 September 2021

UPDATED: 14 September 2021

Local charity Children First Derby celebrated the hugely successful return of its popular Annual Fundraising Ladies Lunch Event, held on 8th September 2021 at Morley Hayes Derby, which raised over £1800 to help support local vulnerable children, young people, and families.

The sold-out event was attended by prominent local business leaders and dignitaries, with guests of honour including H M Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire, Mrs Elizabeth Fothergill CBE, the Mayor of Derby, Councillor Robin Wood, and Children First Derby Patron, Sir Stephen Moss.

“We’re delighted to see the return of our popular Ladies Lunch, after a very challenging eighteen months,” said Children First Derby CEO, Irshad Baqui.

“We rely on public funding and fundraising events such as these to operate our Mentoring and Family Support Services. And our fundraising capacity has been greatly reduced due to the effects of Covid 19.

“It’s fantastic to have our events up and running again and we’re delighted to see so many of the local business community come together today in support of Children First Derby.”

The event saw Guest speaker, award-winning local entrepreneur, Kavita Oberoi OBE, deliver a powerful motivational speech, inspiring guests with her own aspirational story.

Passionate about empowering other businesswomen, Kavita encouraged the captivated audience to follow their passion, inviting guests to visualise their ambitions and advising how to take steps towards accomplishing their goals.

As part of the event, guests enjoyed a two-course luncheon, served in the Granary Loft, and were treated to a fabulous live performance from X Factor Finalist Errol Cole.

The charity’s fundraising team led various fundraising activities throughout the afternoon, which included a raffle and selling Christmas cards designed by local children for the charity as part of a recent Children First Derby fundraising initiative.

Long-standing supporters of Children First Derby, Merchant’s Jewellers, were on hand to showcase some of their fabulous jewellery and presented a cheque to Children First Derby Chair, Fred Jacques, for £1,000 – which they raised for the charity during a recent Live Raffle event.

In addition, Melissa Gordon from Inchcape Toyota Derby, presented a cheque to Children First Derby CEO, Irshad Baqui, for £1,800 to help fund the charity’s recent Summer Activity Scheme.

The generous donation was made after a successful bid was put forward to the Toyota Fund for a Better Tomorrow – a programme of small grants designed to help local charities, schools and community projects.

“We would like to say a sincere thank you to both Merchant’s Jewellers and Inchcape Toyota Derby for their incredible support of Children First Derby, helping us to support local vulnerable children, young people and families” said Children First Derby Chair, Fred Jacques.

Thanks also went to the all the staff at Morley Hayes, who worked hard to help make the event a success and generously provided all guests with a complementary reception drink on arrival.

A special thank you and a bouquet of flowers was presented to Mercia Image Print, Ambassador, Amanda Strong, for her continued support of the charity, which saw the Derby print business provide all the printing costs for the Ladies Lunch flyers, in addition to printing and shrink wrapping the charity’s competition Christmas cards, without charge.

Established in 1974, Children First Derby provides three bespoke services; a Family Support Service, A Mentoring Service and a Supervised Contact Service for Looked After Children in Derby.

The charity recently won the prestigious Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK, for its vital work supporting vulnerable and disadvantaged children, young people, and their families.

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