BBUS raises over £15,000 at Charity Ball

30 October 2009

Left: Brent Mitchell, the evening's host, conduting the auction

Event supports Building Better Futures

Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions has raised over £15,000 at its annual charity ball, held on Friday 23rd October. The ball is a key fundraising event on the company's charity calendar, raising over £65,000 for various charities over the last four years.

This year the event supported Building Better Futures, Balfour Beatty's Centenary Charity partnership between Action for Children and the Prince's Trust. The partnership, which has its own charitable status, funds projects to raise the aspirations, motivation and quality of life amongst disadvantaged young people.

The ball was held at Oulton Hall, a Grade II listed mid 18th Century mansion, in Leeds and was attended by 220 suppliers, subcontractors and employees. The evening's entertainment included a live auction, silent auction and raffle, with some fantastic prizes kindly donated by the event sponsors.
A Mercedes Benz lunch with Lewis Hamilton, £2000 of holiday vouchers, a signed and framed Pele shirt and signed Joe Calzaghe shorts were all up for grabs during the main auction, and prizes for the silent auction included an ipod touch and a racing day at Rockingham with bidding continuing throughout the night.

Guest speaker, Robbie Glen, an ex-prison governor from Lanarkshire, raised many laughs with an amusing after dinner speech, and Michael Wheeler, a manipulative arts entertainer; expert in juggling, poi and Diablo tricks, treated the guests to entertaining acts throughout the evening. Michael has already personally benefitted from the Building Better Futures charity, gaining a Prince's Trust "Community Cash award" which gives 14-25 year olds the chance to make a positive difference to their community.

Brent Mitchell, Chairman of the BBUS Charity Committee and host of the ball said: "We are overjoyed to have raised over £15,000 at our Autumn Charity Ball. I would like to thank all those who attended, my wonderful team, as well as our kind sponsors. Building Better Futures offers young people an opportunity to discover and fulfil their potential and we are proud to be able to help them achieve their aims. It's also great news that Balfour Beatty is going to match the money we raised, so that means over £30,000 - not a bad night's work and a brilliant success!"

A special thank you to our sponsors and supporters:

MCM Insurance Services
United Office Products
Future Environmental Services

AE Yates, Arval, A Plant, AUS, Begbies Traynor, BNH Associates, Branlow, Buckhurst Plant Hire, Camwatch, DURO UK, Eurox, Fleet Support Group, Gallagher, Gap Group, Garrite, Greenroad, Hyram Engineering, Leaseway, Lyndon Scaffolding, Marriot Hotels, Mercedes Benz, NKT Cables. NWGA, Oulton Hall, PSS Hire, Quinns, Speedy Hire, SYC, TH White, Thompsons.