The Harry Moseley Charity Ball, 2012

The inaugural Harry Moseley Charity Ball took place at the ICC in Birmingham on October 19th, 2012.

 With the help of solicitor/Big Brother star PJ Ellis, who was the brains behind the ball, I had secured myself a ticket and I made my way to the venue at 6.15 p.m.

 Inside the ICC you had to take an escalator to the first floor where the charity ball took place. Here you were greeted with a champagne reception and the reception area soon filled up as the 1,260 paying guests arrived.

 In the area different auction items were on display; signed football jerseys, Andy Warhol prints, Downton Abbey memorabilia and a lot more. Free Radio's HumFree the Hamster and the Hollywood Monster went around greeting the guests and the whole event was covered by OK! magazine.

Dinner was served at 7.15 and the ballroom looked beautiful with 126 round tables, each seating ten people, huge TV screens and a fantastic light display on stage. I was seated at a table right in front of the stage and I was in good company as most of the celebrities were seated in the same row.

 From my table I could spot Olympic gymnast Kristian Thomas on my left, the Phelps twins on my right and football legends Ian Taylor and Michael Johnson behind me. The first course was already on the table: a vegetable spit with potato tureen and bread. I don't know what the "meat eaters" got instead of the vegetable spit, but it looked like chicken filet.

Russ Morris and Tom Ross from Free Radio were the hosts of the evening and when they had made their welcome speeches, PJ Ellis and Tim Andrews from Hollywood Monster went on stage to speak, too.

 They both told how much they had been inspired by Harry Moseley, the young school boy who had suffered from a brain tumour, but went on and raised a lot of money for cancer research by selling home made bracelets, before he died of his disease. In fact each of the guests at the ball were given a bracelet made by black and "golden" beads and I proudly wore mine next to the claret and blue one that I bought off Harry before he died.

 Harry's mother, Georgina Moseley, gave a speech too, telling about her personal loss and the meaninglessness of her life now that Harry is gone, her husband and two other children sitting in the front row, listening to her. A few of the ladies around me were in tears after the speech.

Even more people had to bring out their hankies, when a film about Harry was shown on the screens. It told the story of his life and several celebrities were interviewed as well. When footballer John Terry broke down and cried on screen, so did most of the audience!
The main course was served at 8.30 and the vegetarian version consisted of a couscous pie with spinach and green asparagus and a delicious red and yellow pepper sauce. Again I'm not sure what the "meat eaters" had, but it looked like some kind of spareribs. The dishes were accompanied by wine - there were four to six bottles on each table and on the VIP tables there was champagne, too. If you wanted something else, you could buy it from one of the two bars in the ballroom.
To get to the bar - and the ladies rooms - I had to pass Oliver Phelps, so of course I went over to say hi. I hadn't seen him for five months, so I got a hug and a handshake. He was in the company of his parents, his long term girlfriend Katy, his housemate David and his friend Geoff. In fact he had David as his dinner partner instead of Katy, which was a bit of a laugh. At the table he was joined by his twin brother James and James' girlfriend.

Anyway, like it is with these events, there were not enough toilets for the ladies, so a bunch of us ended up in the men's room, which was quite hilarious. I also got to talk to a very nice lady from Wolverhampton and I only wish I knew her name as I would like to thank her for being so kind!
Back in the ballroom it was time for the raffle prize draw. At each place setting there had been an envelop in which you were to put £10 and write your name and table number in order to participate in the raffle. There were 30 prizes in all, the first prize being an ultimate Birmingham weekend donated by the Hyatt Regency and the second prize being a diamond necklace worth £1,500. Of course it was a man who won the necklace!
The raffle prize draw was followed by desserts and a live auction. The dessert consisted of ice cream with chocolate sauce and caramel cake with whipped cream and strawberries. Very tasty. The live auction was solely for the very rich, though. The eight auction items were a day on a luxurious motor yacht, a six-night all inclusive cruise in the south of France, a week for fourteen in a ski chalet in La Place, a golf day at David Gold's private golf course, a photograph in OK! magazine, dinner for six cooked by chef Glynn Purnell and finally a framed Harry Moseley bracelet. The bids were high, especially on the dinner and the bracelet, in fact the bracelet went for £5,000 in the end. That made me wonder how much my own claret and blue bracelet is worth as it was made by Harry himself, too!
After the auction we had coffee while the very talented Beverly Knight went on stage to perform a string of songs. She was very good and very popular, as she is more or less a "local girl", her being from Wolverhampton. We all enjoyed her performance very much.

 When Beverly Knight went off stage, the silent auction ended. All the time during the evening a silent auction had been going on, people being able to bid on various items through the iPads that were placed on the tables. The auction ended at 11.30 p.m. where Georgina Moseley was handed a check of £110,000 which was the amount that people had spent that evening. Quite overwhelming. Actor Adam Rickitt from Coronation Street entered the stage as well to take part in the presenting of the check.
The last two hours of the evening, the ball took off with a disco. Kristian Thomas and Oliver Phelps were some of the first on the surprisingly small dance floor, whereas Oliver's brother James preferred to slow dance with his girlfriend among the tables.

 I spent quite a lot of time on the dance floor myself - I even danced with that nice lady from Wolverhampton and her husband! - but I had time to say hi to PJ Ellis and have my photo taken as well.

 At 1.20 a.m. coaches arrived at the ICC to take the guests to an afterparty on the 25th floor of The Cube. The afterparty lasted until 5 a.m., but I must admit that I didn't! Luckily my hotel was situated only 300 meters away so it was easy for me to get back.
All in all the Harry Moseley Charity Ball was a wonderful event, in fact I was told it had been the best charity event in Birmingham ever! Thank you Peter (PJ) Ellis, Oliver Phelps and that lady from Wolverhampton for making the evening special for me, too. And thank you Harry Moseley. Your life was short, but inspirational. RIP. You won't be forgotten.