Stars light up charity evening

7:57pm Friday 28th March 2008

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celebrities will be rubbing shoulders with charity supporters from York next week at a ball which looks set to raise £10,000 for local causes.

Soap stars, television presenters and cricketers will be donning their best frocks and dinner jackets for the occasion at York Racecourse next Saturday, April 5, which has already become a sell-out success.

Organiser Ruth Thompson has praised businesses in the city and other supporters for donating numerous raffle and auction prizes to help boost the pot, including holidays to Mauritius, Cyprus and Turkey.

The funds are being raised in aid of the Georgina Grace Trust, which Ruth founded with husband Paul to help charities that support disabled children. Their daughter was born in 2004 with CMV, or cytomegalovirus, and has slight brain damage and partial vision.

This will be the third ball the Nether Poppleton couple have hosted. Last year's function raised £3,000.

The money will be ploughed into four worthy causes, including City of York Portage and the Child Development Centre, at York Hospital, where Georgina has received treatment, as well as KIDS Yorkshire And The Humber and the National Children's Home May Lodge, in Scarborough.

"It is going really well," said Ruth. "The ball has sold out, which is fantastic. We have 300 people coming with at least 12 celebrities confirmed. People are coming from Heartbeat, Emmerdale, The Royal, Last of the Summer Wine, and we are just waiting to hear back from Coronation Street about Kim Ryder."

Star turns:

The line-up is expected to include: * Roxanne Pallett, who plays Jo Stiles in Emmerdale * Nicole Faraday, of Bad Girls * Sarah-Jane Honeywell, from CBeebies * Louis Emerik, of Last of the Summer Wine and Brookside * Kim Ryder, of Coronation Street.

"We are really pleased - over the moon," said Ruth. "Everything is going really well.

"So many things have been donated, mainly from local business but others from further afield. The holidays are from British people who own the villas. Lots of places have given dinner for two, a photographic session, pamper days. York businesses have given so generously. They have pulled out all the stops. We are hoping we might raise £10,000."

Ruth said some of the money would be used to buy specific pieces of equipment.

She said: "York Hospital is having a look to see what they need. They are doing a fantastic job of putting together a family room in the Child Development Centre. We are also looking at what physiotherapy equipment they need."