Local community, bands and the Woking Asian Business Forum come together to support Woking Hospice
The Woking Asian Business Forum (WABF), a not-for-profit organisation set up to encourage and support the development of Asian businesses in the Woking area, supported a Summer Ball, held on the 12th July in honor of a former patient of the Woking Hospice, Tania. With the help of all sponsors and supporters the ball raised in excess of £9000 for the Woking Hospice, providing enough money to run the hospice for 1 ½ days.
“The Woking Hospice is a great local facility and their help and support for their patients and their families have a big impact on people’s lives,” says Deborah Kemp, organiser of Tania’s Summer Ball. “The ball is in memory of a former patient of the hospice and the money we raised is a big thank you to the Woking Hospice for all the fantastic work they do, as we know that they rely solely on donations to run the hospice.”
Tania’s Summer Ball was held at Wotton House in Dorking. The Surrey Pipe band greeted the arriving guests in their Royal Stuart tartan with a musical mix of Traditional Scottish and Irish tunes incorporated into various sets comprising of marches, reels, jigs and other familiar tempos. During the three course dinner the RoadRunners took over and delighted all 151 guests with their Blues and Rock ‘n’ Roll mix. Both bands donated their fees for performing to the hospice and played for free in support of the Woking Hospice. Also local dignitaries Mr. Ray Morgan, Chief Executive of Woking Borough Council, Eddie Owen, County Councillor and Shahid Azeem, Chairman of the WABF and CEO of ArcomIT came along and enjoyed a nice summers evening entertainment.
Woking Hospice was opened in December 1996 to provide palliative care and support for patients and their families living in central Surrey. The Hospice is situated in Hill View Road on the edge of Woking town centre and has ten single rooms for in-patient care and a Day Care Unit that gives patients the opportunity to come for respite care, social activities, treatments, bathing and to discuss any problems. The hospice relies on donations and fundraising events, and needs the help of the local community in order to keep doing the work it does. The Woking Asian Business Forum, recently launched, saw this as an opportunity to give something back to the local community that has supported its members and helped fund Tania’s Summer Ball, together with the second sponsor of the ball, Waitrose.
After the big success of this year’s ball Deborah Kemp and her team of helpers have already started to plan another ball next year, this time they could be tempted to introduce an ‘Independent Day’ theme as the date for next year’s event is 4th July 2009.