The Mac Ball 2005 triumphs, raising over £15000 for Marie Curie Cancer Care! The Mac Ball 2005 surpassed our wildest expectations with the help and support of our very generous sponsors, patrons and donators. This wonderful night was sponsored by B.G. Contracts Ltd, 1st Access Rentals and Kevin Smith Insurers. As our beautifully dressed guests were guided into the foyer via our very large and swish banner hanging outside the hotel (kindly provided free by X-Display) they were met by the human tombola and giant sized jenga, as well as a glittering display of prizes (please see our programme online). Everyone was ready to party (some of the boys in kilts loved the human tombola ‘experience’) and raise monies for Marie Curie Cancer Care, a charity that is close to our hearts. Once again the Argyll Suite of the Moat House, Glasgow, was beautifully decorated, greatly aided by the beautiful centre pieces donated by Lillian’s Flowers of Glasgow. Our goodie bags placed on each of our guests chairs was supported and orchestrated by Karen Harris of About You Health & Beauty Centre, each bag was bursting with delightful products from Tunnocks, Irn Bru, Guinot, Trucco, Kaloss, Chivas, Fake Bake, Jica (Sixtus) and Marie Currie Cancer Care. All agreed that these wonderful goodie bags were the cherry on the cake of this glamorous night. The entertainment on the night was provided, once again, by the wonderful ceilidh band Blaze in the Bothy, and Cheeze Choonz rounded the night off with their fantastic disco that kept everyone on their feet and dancing til nearly dawn – well as late as the Moat House and Glasgow’s licensing laws allowed. The after dinner speech, at the request of Marie Curie Cancer Care, was delivered by Mhairi Clare McManus (Real Radio & Scottish TV). Scotland’s most famous football referee, Mr Hugh Dallas, brought the house down with a great delivery of the raffle prizes and an impromptu auction of 2 football shirts, that 2 prize winners very kindly returned to be auctioned (we thank you very much for this very kind gesture – you know who you are!). Mhairi Clare’s interesting anecdote captured the essence of Marie Curie, ie. the delivery of important services to those most in need, at very difficult times in their lives. Again we would like thank you ALL very much for making The Mac Ball 2005 such a wonderful and profitable event for Marie Curie Cancer Care. Hopefully you will join us for in 2007, to help raise money for another deserving charity. 

Meanwhile, why not re-live the magic of the night by having a look at the photographs below? Enjoy!

Kindest regards, 

Justine and Claire

Mac Ball 2005 Photographs

A ‘REEL-LY’ GOOD NIGHT – THE MAC BALL 2004!

The Mac Ball 2004 was set to be a great night before the doors even opened on Saturday, 9^th October. Not one of us dared to believe that we would raise over £10,000 at our inaugural ball but that we did! A grand total of £10,055 was the fantastic result of a truly wonderful evening! 

As the four of us looked around the foyer at Glasgow’s Moat House Hotel our breaths were taken away. The glittering foyer lights reflecting off the glass ceiling with the back drop of a clear black sky - no rain, thank goodness for our guests! - looked magical. The very full and exciting raffle table made us so happy, as well as very grateful to all those who donated prizes (please see our website for full details of our supporters).

When we entered the grand ball room not only did our stomachs do a somersault to see the number of crisply dressed round tables - we had been a little shocked earlier [as well as amazed by Karen Harris’ (About You, Paisley) modest description of her great, grand sized goodie bags] when we realised that later there would be a person here for each bag - but we were absolutely delighted by the stunning, purple and green thistle flower arrangements that had been delivered and placed on each table since we went to get changed. Heather’s (Endrick Blooms, Killearn) very generous donation matched our logo brilliantly. The mood was very much set.

Then our guests, dressed to the nines, in the colours of the rainbow - and that was only the men’s kilts!! - began to arrive. We were glad to have the services of our celebrity designer duo Colin and Justin (BBC’s Million Pound Property Experiment) to help us sell raffle tickets (for over 50 great prizes) and our programmes for the chance to win our sponsor’s (Thermaseal, Dumbarton) deluxe Valentine’s trip to Prague. We even managed to rope in our MC, Austin Lafferty (Top TV and radio lawyer), and Heather Suttie (Beat 106 DJ) to be sellers for us too. However, our star sellers were Julie Philips and Helen Dempsey, topping 1000 raffle ticket sales in ½ hour!

After our reception drink we were ushered into the grand ball room for our delicious four course meal, accompanied by our ‘Majestic’ wine and Strathmore water.

After the shortbread, teas and coffees were delivered it was onto our MC, Austin, to introduce the shortest speeches ever. Dr Gerry Robertson (Consultant Oncologist, Beatson) kicked us off with a 3 min spectacular speech describing how charities help the Beatson and how cancer affects us all. Dave Smillie (Macmillan Fundraiser) explained how the money raised tonight would help build the Macmillian Chemotherapy Centre at Gartnavel. Claire McGonagle (the short straw drawer of The Mac Ball Committee) then gave a 1 min thank you note to each and every supporter (present or absent) of the ball.

Our next stop was the prize draws. Justin and Colin entertained us all as they gave out the prizes. They were very funny, down to earth and hard working, impressing us by being as enthusiastic about the last prize as they were about the first.

Following this, Blaze in the Bothy kicked off the ceilidh and from word go the dance floor was packed and this was kept up when Cheeze Choonz disco took over. The music was so good that it lead to several people getting carried away enough to perform solo dances - no surnames mentioned but, Matt and Scott we all guessed Flash Dance was one of your favourite films. Our band and disco were so happy with the crowd participation they even asked to come back again next year.

After the music stopped at 2am, our guests slowly made their way home with the majority having their goodie bags slung over their shoulders - even the boys! I think that we made it to our beds after 6am as many guests were staying in the hotel, allowing us to be filled in on the bits we missed.

What a great night - please take the time to check out our photographs from the night by clicking here.

Thank you, however you helped The Mac Ball 2004,

Justine and Claire.  

Mac Ball 2004 Photographs

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