Launch Party a Great Success!!!

The long awaited Party to launch the Friends of Ashanti Ghana finally arrived on 29^th February 2008 and was a resounding success!!!! Ticket sales, raffle, balloons and donations helped to raise the fantastic sum of £6,155.

We were very pleased to be joined on the night by Dr. Frank Frimpong and Dr. Patrick Oppong, who are pivotal to the charity’s work in Ghana, as well as our other distinguished guests, Mr. Jim Power from the USA, and Dr. Duveken Voors from Holland. Both Jim and Duveken were instrumental in laying the foundations for what has become the Friends of Ashanti, through their association with Dr. Frimpong and their work with the people of Ghana. They were all delighted to be part of the proceedings and extremely grateful to all those who attended and helped to give such a great boost to the charity’s funds.

Our evening kicked off with the wonderfully rousing sound of the 20 strong Amika Choir who entered the room singing West African songs and set the tone for an incredibly upbeat and electrifying evening. As they wound up their performance, the choir encouraged some great audience participation and in no time at all lots of our guests had mastered a few simple lines and were joining in with gusto.

The Amika Choir deserve special thanks for their excellent performance and in particular a big thank you to their effervescent choir leader, Una May ( sorry you didn’t win the sewing machine, but hopefully you are enjoying the ‘Fish fountain’)

The daunting task of providing a delicious choice of hot buffet to a room full of hungry people fell to Jonathan Waters and his loyal team of helpers. Jonathan and his staff succeeded admirably, despite not having the luxury of a fully equipped kitchen or a professional heated servery. Our thanks to everyone involved in the hard work of catering for us on the night.

All of our guests joined in the fun of the raffle or took part in the ‘balloon lottery’ for the chance to win £20, £10 or £5. Many people returned their ‘balloon’ winnings to the charity pot, and to them we would just like to say an extra thank you for your generosity.

Many of our raffle prizes were very kindly donated by friends and family for which the trustees are very grateful. Other prizes were given by local businesses which included:

Co-operative Society, Earl Shilton,

Ten-Two Art Gallery, Hinckley,

Vin Italy, Nuneaton

Scott Bailye Hair, Earl Shilton

T. J. Hair, Hinckley

Beauty at Constance Woods, Earl Shilton

Moonrise Tandoori, Hinckley

Essential Sewing Services, Ross on Wye

Alayne Stone, Beautician, Hinckley

The Gas Showroom, Nuneaton

Radio Corner, Earl Shilton

The support of all of these businesses was very much appreciated.

With more than 60 raffle prizes on offer, we had lots of happy winners in the room but the luckiest table seemed to be the Damson Court residents from Tamworth who scooped 6 prizes between them!! Well done, we hope you all enjoyed your booty!

Our evening was rounded off in style by local band ‘Remix’ who filled the dance floor thanks to their excellent renditions of great sounds from the 60’s to the present, and all for the price of a few rounds of beer! Cheers and thank you all very much!

If you were one of the 230 people who came along to support us on the night – A BIG THANK YOU for making the event not only memorable, but great fun!

If you are reading this and were not part of the best charity party ever – then make sure you are at the front of the queue when tickets go on sale for our next one!!