25th Anniversary

IRC 25th Anniversary

Summer Ball

The way up to the 8th July celebrations was a path full hazards, countless hours were spent on getting members of the Corps, members of the public, celebrities and dignitaries to come along and enjoy a fun night. Everyone was up for it then hardly anybody! What do I do? Panic!! I hear you say, not me, I persevered - organised a raffle to generate income to fund the event, tried conning people into coming, done interviews with radio stations, pleaded with celebrities, badgered the ITV and BBC, sent out hundreds of letters, had articles in various newspapers, even got some fantastic raffle prizes from places some people could have only dreamt of getting things from – did this help? – NO!

In the end, the final figure was 87 - fewer than we'd hoped but it didn't stop those of us that were there from enjoying ourselves, meeting new people and old acquaintances alike.

The evening started with the guests arriving to a display of equipment, a tent, a mannequin and a lot of photographs of the teams exploits over the 25 years; oh, and me selling merchandise and more raffle tickets!! The bar was open and well stocked - for a while!!

The Lord and Lady Mayoress of Leeds arrived and I introduced them to the Corps Directors. The meal went on, everyone chatting, I was still going round selling raffle tickets, and then the draw took place for the Holiday to Marrakech which was donated by Sir Richard Branson, then more raffle tickets were sold and more draws took place, it seemed by the end of the night everyone there had something to take home! A few speeches were made, a fantastic presentation show was shown and then came the dance bit of the evening and, boy, did people dance!!

All of a sudden it was midnight and everyone, bar a few, was a little worse for wear; but for some the night was only starting – this was Leeds and there seems to be far too many clubs for the likes of us. I personally arrived home sometime on the Sunday!

By the end of the night, whilst no profit was made for the Corps, we managed to break even. But we were there to celebrate the last 25 years with a bit of style and had a lot fun - that was accomplished like all the missions the International Rescue Corps had been to before the ball – perfectly.

My last task is to thank those that helped make the event the success that it was. To the person who stood by me through thick and thin and knew that we could make a good go of it – Jocelyn Egan. To those that organised other prizes and helped setup the decorations, these were members and non-members – you know who you are so a big thank you to all of you!! To those that came a long way to be there, from Scotland, from the deep south and even the one non-member who jiggled his leave to come back from Iraq! THANK YOU

Deano Mills

The following web links are to those people and their organisations that have generously donated to our event. Our thanks and best wishes go out to each of them.

Sir Richard Branson