This year’s Yorkshire Children of Courage Awards was spectacular, that’s the only word for it! The annual awards evening raises money for the St James’ Place Foundation, which since 1991 has donated over £50million to charities, with all monies matched £ for £ by the foundation.
Ascensor has supported the Yorkshire Children of Courage Awards for the last seven years since it began in 2011. Each year the evening attracts a host of Yorkshire Businesses, Celebrities and of course the brave children and their families, for whom the evening is all about.
As we descended on The Royal Armouries for the VIP reception event we were welcomed by Micky and Minnie Mouse. The VIP drinks for families, ambassadors and sponsors gave us all an opportunity to meet up with guests, meet celebrities including the retired Huddersfield Giant, Eorl Crabtree and Paul Chuckle and listen to the beautiful harp being played by Meg.
At 7.15 we were ushered across to New Dock Hall for the main event, stopping to take pictures with Micky and Minnie and being welcomed by the Sequin Aquarium Circus as we entered the hall.
This year our host was ITV Yorkshire’s Christine Talbot who was excellent, keeping the evening flowing really well. We had the usual auction and silent auction as well as raffle drawers through the night. Entertainment on the night included singing by Bethany Hare supported by the dancers from the Adele Taylor School of Dance, the Rock Up and Sing Choir and X Factor’s Ray Quinn closed the spectacular evening.
The food as ever was provided by the Aagrah, absolutely gorgeous Asian fusion food, this year with a rack of lamb on each table.
The stars of the evening, as always, were the children of courage. Ascensor sponsor the 0-12 years Special Recognition Award, this year our MD Andrew Firth proudly gave the award to Charlie who was born in 2007 a healthy baby, but within a few months had been diagnosed with brain damage. Charlie couldn’t walk or talk, but now at 10 years old he can do both, he can even count to 10 in German and Spanish. Charlie very much deserves special recognition, so do all of the winners and nominations, truly inspirational stories.
You can see all of this year’s winners video’s here
We’re already looking forward to Yorkshire Children of Courage 2018, each year it is one of our highlights and would not be missed!