Highlights from Cirdan fundraising event at Girdlers Hall

On Tuesday 16th September we enjoyed a fantastic fundraising evening hosted by The Worshipful Company of Girdlers at their beautiful Girdlers Hall in London.

The evening begun with a welcome from Adrian Udal, Girdlers’ Master of Ceremonies, followed by Cirdan Trustee Simon Hodgkinson.

Cirdan Youth View member and Duke of Edinburgh Youth Ambassador Dominic Burns took to the microphone to introduce the first part of the evening - a Speed Networking event featuring 5 different stations: 1. Neurodiversity, 2. Special Educational Needs, 3. Area of Deprivation 4. Duke of Edinburgh and 5. Mental Health. Groups and Youth View members that have sailed with us manned the stations and spoke to visitors about the benefits they have gained from joining a Cirdan residential.

An exciting auction followed, with centre court tickets for the Open Day at Wimbledon fetching £3,000 alone! Moments were tense with bidding, but with every bid placed more funds were raised for Cirdan.

Cirdan supporter and actor Patrick Malahide provided us with three wonderful readings - Sea Fever by John Masefield, A Sea Dirge by Lewis Carrol and Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

A game of heads and tails (Anchors and Sails) followed, where guests competed to win a case of 12 bottles of wine.

Throughout the evening we enjoyed beautiful piano playing by Terry Saunders from the gallery, and the fantastic Hog Eye Men singing sea shanties.

A huge thank you to everyone who played a part in the evening, and a special thanks to Girdlers who very kindly match-funded what we raised on the night!