What a night that was.
The great and the good of Ipswich gathered in force to raise money for the CF Trust and for a local children’s charity and altogether they raised well over £25,000.
It was an amazing experience to be in a room with a crowd of such wealthy and generous people. The main bulk of the night’s money was made in the auction and silent auction, with people bidding against each other for things they didn’t even necessarily want in order to push the price up and raise more money for the cause.
I have to say, modest as I am, I was really happy with my speech. It didn’t come out exactly as I’d written it, but I hit most of the beats I wanted to hit and I made the points I wanted to make without rambling or stuttering when I got a bit lost. In fact I’m told that no one noticed that I got lost anyway, so that’s pretty good.
It was a long, long night, though – the first time I’ve been out “on the town” till the early hours since my op, and for quite a while before then, too.
I was bowled over by people’s reactions to the speech and their wonderful giving spirit throughout the evening and was even more delighted to hear from the Editor of the newspaper that runs the event that next year the CF Trust will be the sole beneficiary. And I get to go back again!
I’d like to extend a huge and grateful thanks to everyone who went along for their generosity of spirit and kind words they offered me on the night. Thanks to people like these, the CF Trust can continue it’s work to try to ensure that we stop losing young lives to this terrible disease.