Business

The Party in the Sky dinner will be held in the Hilton Reading on Friday, January 27, with proceeds going to the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust
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VIP invitation to Party in the Sky

By David Millward
January 09, 2012

Businesses are being given a chance to play a major part in helping the town celebrate the London Olympics and Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Organisers of a fundraising gala dinner this month have put together a deal for companies interested in sponsorship.

The package includes a table for 10 with VIP treatment on the night, a meeting with double Olympic gold winner Dame Kelly Holmes, and publicity.

Party organiser Pam Warren said: “This is a unique opportunity for businesses to be associated with a highly prestigious gala event which will go on to do a great deal of good for the town and its young people.”

The Party in the Sky dinner will be held in the Hilton Reading on Friday, January 27, with proceeds going to the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust (DKHLT) and the Reading Partnership Board 2012, which is supporting community events in the borough throughout the year.

A Champagne reception will be followed by a three-course meal cooked by guest chefs, a silent auction and live entertainment.

Organisers are looking for six companies to take up sponsorship packages for the night, priced at £5,500 each. They will receive:

- VIP tables for 10.

- VIP hospitality rooms where guests will be visited by Dame Kelly while they enjoy pre-dinner drinks.

- An article and advert in the glossy event brochure.

- Company logo on the menus, programmes, napkin rings and pop up displays alongside the red carpet entrance.

- One free double room overnight and discounts for others, including breakfast.

Ms Warren said: “We believe we’ve put together a really generous sponsorship package which businesses will want to snap up.”

Proceeds will also go towards employing a full-time member of staff in Reading for the DKHLT, which helps jobless young people into work, training or education.

Interested companies should email infopartyinthesky@yahoo.com. Anyone else who would like tickets, priced £99, should contact Sue Brackley at Reading UK CIC by email at sue@livingreading.co.uk.

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"Proceeds will also go towards employing a full-time member of staff in Reading for the DKHLT, which helps jobless young people into work, training or education."

It seems that this event does a great deal more good for whoever gets the role than for the town's disaffected youth. As for the corporate package, all the advertising is as shameless as that associated with the Olympics itself. Hardly charitable for all the right reasons.

I'm with The Arbitrator on this one - give the money directly to charity instead of going for the indulgent bling.

Spiddly, Reading
10/01/2012 at 12:46

EP this is the forth appearance of what is a lousy charity event; especially when the likes of Citizen's Advice Bureau (CAB) and the Reading Refugee Support Group are running out of funds. Since the Council has made their changes to the amount of funding to charities and who the charities are that will benefit important and valuable functions in the town have been struggling for survival. EP you have told us that the purpose of this event is to fund someone to run more of these events and, then, that funds will be used for athletes to mentor young people looking for work. Sorry I give the former very low priority and the latter is inconsequential when the council should be doing that as a matter of course. No disrespect to Kelly Holmes, but you are merely taking from the limited pot available.

This event is a Reading Borough Council want. There seems to be another motive behind all this and it has nothing whatsoever to do with aid. RBC are now dictating on all levels outside of their role as service provider. Businesses instead of supporting the dinner - give the money directly to the charity if that is what you want to do. We all know that businesses have fixed charitable budgets so once it is gone it is gone and those important and long established groups lose out. Party in the sky - pie-in-th-sky.