Arsenal Charity Ball nets over £200,000

Arsenal Football Club celebrated a fundraising bonanza at its annual charity ball on Thursday evening. The event was held in aid of the Club’s Charity of the Season, Teenage Cancer Trust, the charity dedicated to improving the lives of young people with cancer, with funds from the evening also going towards the Arsenal Charitable Trust.

The ‘Legends & Youth Ball’ hosted by Matt Lucas and attended by the Arsenal first team squad, Arsène Wenger and Arsenal-supporting celebrities raised over £200,000 through unique auction lots and generous pledges from guests throughout the evening.

• Click here for exclusive pictures from the Charity Ball

The event included a variety of acts to keep guests entertained including live performances from legendary rock band The Who and up and coming soul sensation V V Brown. Phil Tufnell and Rory McGrath also joined forces to delight the crowd with a humorous game of Heads & Tails with Judge Jules rounding off the evening with a DJ set.

Lots from the evening’s auction included ‘Host with the Most’ – an exclusive dinner party for five friends hosted by Arsène Wenger in Emirates Stadium’s Diamond Club which fetched £12,000. Another lucky guest bid £6,000 for the chance to take on Theo Walcott in a Playstation tournament and receive a free-kick lesson from Arsenal Captain Cesc Fabregas.

Commenting on the Legends & Youth Ball, Arsenal Manager Arsène Wenger said: “We’re very proud to have been able to raise this money for Teenage Cancer Trust.  To hold such a fantastic event and break our previous fundraising record is truly wonderful.  A big thank you must go out to the organisers and, of course to the generous guests who attended the ball.”

Roger Daltrey, CBE, Patron of Teenage Cancer Trust said: “The Legends & Youth Ball was a perfect finale to this incredible partnership between Arsenal and Teenage Cancer Trust. Everyone at the charity has been overwhelmed by the support that the Club has shown us throughout the season. As an Arsenal fan I am proud of how the Club and its fans from across the world have got behind us and this amazing fundraising total is testament to that.”

The Legends & Youth Ball was the spectacular finale of the Club’s Charity of the Season partnership with Teenage Cancer Trust.  The event has helped the Club to smash its £300,000 fundraising target, the figure required to build an Education Zone within Teenage Cancer Trust’s unit in a brand new day care cancer centre due to open in 2012.

This follows Arsenal’s amazing achievement last season, raising over half a million pounds for its previous chosen charity, TreeHouse, the national charity for autism education.

[Friday, May 22, 2009]

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