WHOOOHOOO!!!! – What a fantastic achievement! And I feel so privileged and proud to have been part of such as successful evening for such a worthy cause. Myself and the band were so well looked after, we didn’t want to leave! Here’s more about the evening……
The sold-out Red Dinner raised more than ÂŁ90,000 to support unemployed young people in the South West.
Guests were treated to a night of Hollywood glamour at Clifton College with a themed dinner and drinks reception hosted by Suttons & Robertson and sponsored by Laurent Perrier and Goldbrick House.
Entertainment was provided by X Factor’s Alexandra Burke, The Voice UK’s Celestine Walcott-Gordon and the evening’s host Omid Djalili.
Celestine, 30, from St Paul’s in Bristol, was backed by The Prince’s Trust in 2005 and given a loan to independently launch her debut album Secret Side.
Celestine, who sang at the Red Dinner, says: “The Prince’s Trust has played an important role in my life.
“For a charity like that to believe in me is amazing.
“Someone could have said that I was not making a product, just creating music, and see this as a risk but the Prince’s Trust just saw my potential.”
A luxury live auction, sponsored by Matthew Clarke, also saw a bass guitar signed by singer-songwriter Sting raise ÂŁ5,000 to help change the lives of disadvantaged young people across the region, where 8,400* young people are currently unemployed.
The annual event, sponsored by Bond Dickinson and RBS, has raised more than ÂŁ212,000 in the last two years.
One in four young people are currently unemployed in Bristol,** and The Prince’s Trust, which tackles youth unemployment in every region and country of the UK, worked with 800 disadvantaged young people in the area each year.
Three in four young people supported by The Prince’s Trust move into work, education or training.
*The figures have been taken from the ONS, Annual Population Survey, June 2012 to July 2013.
**The figures have been taken from the ONS, Annual Population Survey, June 2012 to July 2013. The number 16-to-24-year-olds struggling to find work in Bristol was 25.7 per cent.
