A DALE accounting firm’s tenth annual charity ball has raised more than £10,000 for the Teesdale Branch of Cancer Research UK.
During the past decade, the Butler and Gee Accountants’ bash has brought in about £87,000 for the branch.
This year, Butler and Gee arranged for champion dancers and television personalities Vincent Simone, from Strictly Come Dancing, and Ksenia Zsikhotska, from Dancing With The Stars, to perform.
Chris Butler, from the accounting firm, said: “Vincent and Ksenia were both absolutely fantastic on the evening on and off the dance floor and mixing with all our guests.
“They did a couple of world class dances in the middle of the ballroom which was really good in a small setting like Lartington Hall, and being so close to it, everybody’s breath was really taken away.”
As usual, the highlight of the evening was a charity auction with experiences donated by the company’s clients and friends.
Mr Butler said: “Lots included a week in a luxury holiday cottage in Devon, we had a day at the spa at Rudding Park in Harrogate, there were some premier league football tickets and a Ferrari racing test session at Silverstone.
“Without the generosity of all our guests and clients we wouldn’t be able to have the events. This year we raised £10,064 all for Cancer Research of which every pound goes towards further research and incredibly that means we have now raised £87,000 over the ten events.
“When we set out ten years ago or so to do this we never thought we would able to raise so much money for such a good cause.
“Cancer is something that affects so many people and we are really proud of raising funds to help with diagnosis and developing further treatments.”
Mr Butler also thanked John and Shona Harper-Wilkes, of Lartington Hall, for the use of their venue and their invaluable support, as well as Lisa Bell, of Butler and Gee, who spends weeks helping to organise the event.
