The Bride's Ball - A great success!

The Bride's Ball, held on 30th September 2011 was a great success. Over £3300 was raised on the evening with the monies distributed evenly between:

• St Teresa's Hospice, Darlington
• Age UK (Darlington)
• Holistic Cancer Care Centre at James Cook University Hospital

We could not have chosen a better day to hold the ball. What can I say...I love an indian summer! Temperatures during the day reached 27 degrees, dipping only slightly to 22 on the evening. Not a bride in sight was shivering.

Guests really took to the dress code. Over 50 ladies dressed in bridal gowns - a sea of white satin, silk and lace.
A competition took place for new, old, vintage and bijou dresses - which added to the excitement. An auction, tombola and water or wine game helped to boost the money raised on the evening.

However, I don't think the girls will be planning another bridal event in the near future...fee earning and event organsing don't exactly go hand in hand. Hats off (or should I say tiaras) to the girls for organising such a successful and enjoyable evening.

Full press release can be found here Brides and Grooms Raise Over £3300 for North East Charities

You might also want to take a look at some of the pictures the professional photographer (Debbie Stogden) took Debbie Stogden Professional Photography

Thanks again to all that supported the ball

The Bridal Ball is mentioned in Hitched (Bridal Magazine)

Hey, we managed to promote the Bridal Ball via Hitched, an upmarket bridal magazine. Many thanks to their editor Pauline Holt and to BQ Magazine for passing our details to Hitched in the first place.

You can take a look at the piece here and click to page 76.

There's not much time left until the ball, we're all very busy organising but i'd like to thank a few of the very generous businesses who are supporting the Bridal Ball by offering their services free of charge in order that we can raise as much money as possible on the evening.

• Debbie Stogden for professional photography Services
• MT print for preparing the tickets and marketing material
• Limelight Ltd for providing the photobooth
• Bake My Day Catering for donating the cake

As well as loads of other local business that have donated prizes for the fundraising games on the evening.
The list is very nearly endless....Crathorne Hall Hotel, Middlesbrough Football Club, Michael Simpson, personal trainer, Audi Teesside, Ainsley Financial Management Ltd, Kings Camps, Neighbours Cleaning Services, Wynyard Hall, Buyagift.com, The Cheese and Wine Shop, Crathorne Hall Hotel, Teesside Audi, Middlesbrough Football Club, Whitehouse Funeral Services, Dinsdale Spa, Redcar Races , Clean Care fabrics, Heather Carter, myhousecleaner.co.uk, The Perfume Shop, Me Me Me Accessories, Metro Centre, Marc Antoni, Buckles and Bows, Chez Bec, Boots plc, Poppy Bridal for allowing us to use their shop for our press release and to borrow their beautiful bridal gowns, The Old Tapas Bar, The Village Inn Brompton, Psyche, No 7, Dobinsons Bridal Shop for donating a Tiara, Wades Associates, Independent Financial Advisors, Beamish Museum, Point Blank Paintball, Ariel Extreme, Hollywood Bowl, Virgin Vie, You got nails, Camera A, Northumbrian Water Property Solutions, Café 85, The Silver Shop, Smile Spa, North Yorkshire Moors Railway , Revolution Newcastle, Falconry Centre, Diggerland, Majestic Wines, Rockliffe Hall, Hartlepool Historic Quay, Compugift, Saltburn Surf School, Prego, Ebony, Café Lilli, Black Sheep Brewery, Big Sheep Little Cow, Van Mildert
 
I'll update you once the ball is over.

Fun Photo Shoot for the Bride's Ball



Joanne Gilligan (and wig!), Paula Whittaker - Brides at Poppy, Natalie Palmer and Helen Thomas, Latimer Hinks Solicitors

 What a busy day I had yesterday. In the morning I had organised for 18 of our fee earners to have their photos taken so that I could update their profiles. Quite an organisational nightmare considering the the fee earners take phone calls, have appointments and meetings. Hats off to our reception staff Michelle and Katarina for managing to locate all 18 before 12:30!

After that it was a quick dash up to Brides at Poppy. Owner, Paula Whittaker readily agreed to support our publicity campaign for The Bride's Ball at Rockliffe Hall, Sep 30th - a charity event in aid of three charities:

• St Teresa's Hospice, Darlington
• Age UK (Darlington)
• Holistic Cancer Care Centre at James Cook University Hospital

The dress code for the Bride's Ball is wedding attire. Bridal gowns for the ladies and groomswear for the men - the ultimate "dressing up" evening!

Natalie Palmer, Helen Booth and Joanne Gilligan, all employees of Latimer Hinks Solicitors were persuaded (and very easily at that) to "dress up" in bridal dresses from Brides at Poppy. The ladies at Poppys were extremely helpful in choosing a dress, headgear and footwear for each of them to wear...and my ladies were more than happy to be dressed by them!

They all looked stunning...and I must admit I was a little jealous that I had not dressed up - such beautiful dresses!

Joanne, who is undergoing treatment for breast cancer could not decide whether to wear her wig - or not... I think she looks stunning with or without!

So, many thanks to Brides at Poppy

Check out our Facebook page The Bride's Ball at Rockliffe Hall. We hope you can join us - tickets are on sale at £50 each.

See The Bride's Ball Flyer for further information

More Fundraising for the Evolution Challenge

The Latimer Hinks team are at it again! This time the fundraiser is in the form of a quiz. We're hoping to attract teams from the Darlington area to take part.

The ticket price is £6 and includes pie and peas!
The venue is Blackwell Rugby Club.
The date - Friday 10th June

There will be a raffle and prizes will be given to the winning teams
Any funds raised via the Evolution Challenge will benefit St Teresa’s Hospice, Zoe’s Place  and Hartlepool Hospice.

If you feel you have the relevant skills/knowledge to take part in the quiz simply email at@latimerhinks.co.uk.
If you'd like to donate prizes for the raffle we'd be very grateful - again simply email at@latimerhinks.co.uk

Raising Money for Charity - The Vantis Challenge

This is the second year that Latimer Hinks is supporting the Vantis Corporate Challenge now named the Evolution Corporate Challenge (asVantis has had a name change).
The challenge is to generate as much money as possible from £50. All the monies raised, including the original £50, will then be donated equally to three local charities; St Teresa’s of Darlington, Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice in Middlesbrough and Hartlepool & District Hospice.

So far, we've had a Dress Down Day, a Decorated Egg competition (Dennis the Menace won - well deserved) and we're also having a "Bake Off" - very enjoyable. Cakes are baked, sold and judged.

Hopefully we'll raise a decent amount to help out these deserving charities!

Fundraising via a Fake Wedding

One of our ladies - Gillian Ibbotson is a Trustee for Darlington Town Mission and was recently invited to attend a "Fake Wedding" in order to raise funds for the mission.

Gillian organised a table with guests from Latimer Hinks. The dress code was obviously, wedding attire. This provided the perfect opportunity to have a second wearing out of a wedding outfit! Having had at least three ladies from Latimer Hinks married in a year there was no shortage of volunteers.

Guests were asked to take along a "gift" for the bride and groom, The gifts were then auctioned later in the evening.

There was a "Father of the Bride" speech (no Best Man speech), a disco and plenty of refreshments on hand. All in all it was a very enjoyable evening - the money raised on the evening amounted to £2000.

So, well done Darlington Town Mission for taking on something a little bit different!

Latimer Hinks Joined with Local Businesses to Raise over £33,000

Latimer Hinks and other local businesses were tasked with a challenge from Vantis Plc. Turn £50 into as much money as possible (legitimately!) for three local charities. St Teresa's Hospice, Zoe's Place and Hartlepool and District Hospice.

How could we resist? A programe of fundraising activities was quickly devised...

Preparing to take part

• Dress down days
  
• Balloon release


• Car boot sale


• Cake baking - not great for the waistline, but I certainly did look forward to Monday mornings when cakes were sold


• Ebay - my office was due a clean out se we thought the charities might benefit from the proceeds of an old exhibition display, some toner cartridges not in use etc..


• Quiz and raffle - yeah, i was on the winning team (by luck rather than my expertise in general knowledge - did you know that a female polar bear is called a sow)?


• Sold Organic Rhubarb from colleague's garden


• Silent auction


• Cricket match


• Jewellery party


• Come dine with me - some great nights with great food


• We also received donations of £75

A total of £1,749.97 was raised by Latimer Hinks.

The Vantis Challenge (59 companies took part) raised a grand total of £33,724.19

Well done to all that took part and supported the challenge!

County Durham & Tees Valley Charity Awards 2008

The awards provide an opportunity to recognise charities, and their unsung heroes for their outstanding work. This is the second year that Latimer Hinks and Horwarth Clark Whitehill have hosted/sponsored the awards.

Photo 1 - Anne Elliott - Latimer Hinks, Pauline Wilson - NASSL, Peter Rowley - Darlington Building Society, Lauren Robinson (Darlington on Disability), Peter Olsen - Horwath Clark Whitehill
Photo 2 - Heather O'Driscoll (HCW) Anne Elliott, Dawn Carney Cash for Kids, Peter Olsen (HCW)

The event took place at Middlesbrough Football Club, with nearly 200 attendees.

Local businesses, charities and individuals were represented - the event was a great success, if not somewhat emotional.
The winners were:

• 
  Elderly Charity of the Year: Durham Aged Mineworkers Homes Association
• Children’s Charity of the Year: TFM Radio & Magic 1170’s Cash for Kids Charity
• Animal Charity of the Year: National Animals Sanctuaries Support League
• Disability Charity of the Year: Darlington Association on Disability
• National Charity – Local Branch: The York Cats Protection
• Local Charity of the Year: The Vocational Learning Trust
• Fundraiser of the Year: David Williams
• Business Supporter of the Year: Darlington Building Society
• Charity Volunteer of the Year: George Harvey
• Charity of the Year: TFM Radio & Magic 1170’s Cash for Kids Charity
  

Durham & Tees Valley Charity Awards Podcast
Press Release - Three Darlington Charities Scoop Top Awards

Check out the Podcast here

Rosie Gets Around - Agricultural Committee Member to Diabetes Fundraiser

Rosanne Green, a solicitor here at Latimer Hinks has been selected as a committee member for the Agricultural Law Association:The Next Generation (ALATNG) regional committee.

The Next Generation caters for younger professionals by arranging mixed technical and social events which allow members of all professions to meet each other - an ideal platform for networking and sharing knowledge.

See our press story Darlington Solicitor Joins RuralProfessionals Committee

Rosie is very busy at the moment, committee member for ALA: The Next Generation AND she is also training to run the New York marathon for Diabetes UK

Latimer Hinks has a great reputation for raising money (Record Amount Raised at the Charity Ball) and Rosie is running in the 2008 New York Marathon to raise money for Diabetes UK.

Rosie has Type I Diabetes which means she is insulin dependent – which makes training for a marathon quite a challenge!

If you'd like to sponsor Rosie or find out more about her training challenges please visit Just Giving.

Click if you would like to find out more about Diabetes UK

Durham & Tees Valley Charity Awards - call for sponsors!

If you have been reading this blog you will know that Latimer Hinks and Horwath Clark Whitehill are jointly sponsoring the Durham & Tees Valley Charity Awards.

Blog entry here

The awards celebrate the acheivements of the "unsung heroes" of the charity sector - we give them a well deserved "pat on the back!"

We're looking for sponsors of certain categories - cost of sponsorship is £1000 and includes a table of ten (for the dinner), press publicity, opportunity to present an award and of course to choose the winner of your sponsored category - i'm sure you will agree that for £1000 + VAt that the sponsorship opportunity is very reasonable (remember it does include a table for 10).

The remaining categories are:

• Children's Charity of the Year (ideal for businesses such as Mothercare, Toys r Us etc)
• Animal Charity of the Year (any vets or feed suppliers out there?)
• Disability Charity of the Year (perhaps car sales, disability cars/vehicles etc)
• National Charity - Local Branch
• Fundraiser of the Year (any business organisation could support this and perhaps even nominate)
• Business Supporter of the Year (perfect for a bank!)

If you would be interested in sponsoring, or know of any business/organisation that may be interested, please contact me by my blog or by calling 01325 341507 and asking for Andrea

It's our chance to say "thanks" - you never know when you will need help from charities/hospices etc.

Knowledge Sharing through Social Networking - It Works!

As mentioned previously we are holding the Latimer Hinks bi-annual Charity Ball in May this year.

I decided that I would try to use social networking to my advantage, hence my first post about the ball.

Since this post I have received calls from:

• a photographer who will come along on the evening free of charge, sell photos and donate 10% of the profits to the charities concerned.
• an auction expert, he will supply auction items and organise a silent auction free of charge. Any profit made above the cost of the item will go directly to the charities

This will all be a great help. The companies can come in and professionally "do their thing". I will then have more time to see to the other aspect of the evening.

It's all getting very exciting! We're even looking at lighting the outside of Wynyard Hall. It is after all, a spectacular building.

Summer Charity Ball and Relationship Building

Every two years Latimer Hinks organise a charity ball and this year it is to be held at the magnificent Wynyard Hall, Tees Valley on May 16th 2008. It's an absolutely stunning venue and we have sole use - very prestigious!

The ball provides the opportunity to support the local community and for 2008 we have chosen three very worthy charities to support

• County Durham Foundation - providing a way for individuals, companies and trusts to have their own charitable funds, held in their name, to make grants to projects or individuals of their choosing


• Great North Air Ambulance - providing emergency medical cover for the North of England using helicopters to transport time critical injured or ill patients


• Make a Child Smile - supporting local children of Tees Valley, North Yorkshire & County Durham who are either sick or under-privileged

In 2006 we raised nearly £10,000 and intend to dramatically increase the figure for 2008

How?
Hopefully I can call on contacts made throughout the year through networking events in the hope that they will support/sponsor the ball. I can also seek advice from a massive knowledge base.

Yesterday I spoke with Mike Challands of MT Print who I met at a very tasty networking breakfast. Mike is not only going to advise me on banners/displays etc he has also offered to provide the design and print of tickets, program etc in return for a few tickets to the ball!

Mike will benefit from exposure to around 300 high net worth business representatives at the event and will obviously have his quality print work on show and acknowledged AND we can pass the money saved on print to the charities.

This is what relationship building/networking is all about - we don't necessarily need to give business on every occasion but we can provide opportunities to expose new contacts to our networks.

If anyone reading this would be interested in sponsoring/supporting the charity ball, please let me know.

We have yet to book a band, music (we would like string quartet or similar). Donations of champagne etc for a sponsored reception would be gratefully received. We are looking for auction prizes, raffle prizes - the list goes on!

If you or your business would like exposure/ackowledgement at this prestigious black tie event, talk to me (you can use comments) and i will call you to discuss on suggestions further.

Don't forget it's all for good causes!

Press from previous balls 2006, 2004. More Charity Ball photos

Benefitting the Local Community

Here at Latimer Hinks we like to "do our bit" for the local community and in turn help to reduce our carbon footprint.

We've recently donated £1000 to The Tees Forest so that 2000 trees can be planted.

The Tees Forest is part of the North East Community Forests group that is working in a newly-created woodland area of Darlington - aimed at improving the environment and encouraging more people to use the outdoors for education and enjoyment. The wood will be called Scouts' Wood and will improve the local community for many years to come. Latimer Hinks Branches out with Charity Support

Latimer Hinks has undergone a computer makeover. Lovely, slim, aesthetic monitors have replaced the CRT dinosaurs (still in working order) and as part of our ongoing commitment to recycling we have donated the old computers to charity. You can read all about it - Latimer Hinks Encourages Recycling

Gone are the days of "make do and mend". Items become obselete in such a short space of time and can easily be replaced. It's well worth doing a little research to see if anyone, or any organisation can benefit from what you're throwing away.

Balls!

...and lots of them.

Charity Balls - they kill two birds with one stone. Firstly they provide a great networking opportunity and secondly by supporting the event worthy causes within the local community greatly benefit.

It seems to be Ball season at the moment. In October we have arranged to be at:

St Teresa's Hospice Ball - Hospice at Home, Day Care and In-patient Care for people across South Durham and North Yorkshire

The Darlington Mayors Ball - is in aid of Darlington Coronary Care Support Group and Tracheo Oesophageal Fistula Support, which provides support to families of children born with rare congenital conditions.

The Masquerade Ball - in aid of Redcar & Cleveland's Women Aid

All proceeds from the Balls go to their nominated charites. Next year will be Latimer Hinks turn to hold a Ball. Organised every two years the event is always a great success. Last year alone we raised £9,200 with the help of generous Clients, friends and family.

In 2008 we aim to increase this, but until then.. as you can see from the pic, it's a hard life.... !

Judith Middleton, Partner at Latimer Hinks attended the Mayors Ball and this is what she has to say about it!

Charity Awards to Recognise Unsung Heroes

Latimer Hinks and Horwath Clark Whitehill are sponsoring the FIRST County Durham and Tees Valley Charity Awards.

The awards are aimed at recognising and celebrating the individial volunteers and fundraisers who give their time and energy to local charities.

We hope that people will nominate both their favourite charity and the inspiring people who work selflessly behind the scenes.

There are an amazing number of people in the region involved in the charity sector, from fundraisers and charity workers through to volunteers and business supporters and it is for these people the awards are intending to gain recognition.

We are all aware of the ‘grass roots’ work that is being carried out in communities across the region by local charities often operating under severe financial constraints and with little recognition. These awards are an opportunity to promote the region’s vibrant third sector, and so we would encourage local charities to consider making an application for these awards – as the old saying goes, you’ve got to be in it to win it! - so please pass this message on.
The work of the charities, within the TS, DL, DH, SR and YO postcode areas, will be acknowledged.

The ceremony will be held at Hardwick Hall Hotel, Sedgefield on November 1st.
Anyone wishing to complete a nomination form should email caroline.walker@recognitionpr.co.uk or call 01325 363436. Full details are on the website http://www.durhamteesvalleycharityawards.co.uk/

Categories
1. Charity Volunteer of the year
The nominations should not include merely fundraising but for time and effort put into assisting a charity in its objectives in either frontline or back office functions. Nominations should include a description of the work involved and the importance of it to the charity concerned.
2. Charity Fundraiser of the Year
The nominations should include a description of the work and funds involved and with particular emphasis on the importance of it to the charity concerned.
3. Business Supporter of the Year
The nominations should explain what the business supporter has contributed that marks the business out as special in that charity’s experience.
4. Health and Welfare (inc Elderly) Charities
The nominations should explain what the charity has achieved that marks it out as special in its particular sector. It should include a copy of its annual report & accounts and any other appropriate documentation to support its nomination.
5. Young Person’s Charities
The nominations should explain what the charity has achieved that marks it out as special in its particular sector. It should include a copy of its annual report & accounts and any other appropriate documentation to support its nomination.
6. Education & Training Charities
The nominations should explain what the charity has achieved that marks it out as special in its particular sector. It should include a copy of its annual report & accounts and any other appropriate documentation to support its nomination.
7. Housing Charities
The nominations should explain what the charity has achieved that marks it out as special in its particular sector. It should include a copy of its annual report & accounts and any other appropriate documentation to support its nomination.
8. Local Branch of a National Charity
The nominations should explain what the branch has achieved that marks it out as special in its particular sector. It should ideally include a statement from the branches National HQ as to why the branch is worthy of nomination, with special mention of its activities, fundraising and volunteer work for the charities objectives.
Durham and Tees Valley Charity of the Year.
The winners of categories 4 – 8 will be entered into this award.