Guests at this year's Tarporley Ball hit the jackpot with a Viva Las Vegas themed evening which raised almost £10,000 for the Christie charity.

Decked out with giant playing cards, casino tables and Elvis memorabilia, the Tarporley Fundraising Committee held their 11th annual fundraising ball in June at the Cheshire polo club.

The evening kicked off with a champagne reception with canapés followed by a meal. Guests played 'higher and lower' with giant playing cards, there was an auction, raffle and silent auction. Bidding was followed by the Pure Presley Show, casino and disco.

There were a number of fantastic prizes up for grabs in the main auction which raised over £9,500 including flying lessons, a Manchester United shirt, a morning at Manchester United star Michael Owen's manor house stables, exclusive dinner party for ten and balloon flights.

The committee have now raised over £90,000 for the Christie charity. This year the ball was raising money for the new £35 million patient treatment centre currently under construction at The Christie's main site in south Manchester.

Chair of the organising committee, Sarah Burke said; "We were delighted with the evening and everyone was so generous - as usual. The Elvis impersonator was fantastic, food was great and everyone enjoyed the whole event.

"Committee members recently enjoyed a tour of the new patient treatment centre at The Christie which will be a fantastic facility and really spurred us on to continue to raise money for this most worthwhile cause."

The Tarporley summer ball has been running for over a decade now and the group began fundraising for the Christie charity when a friend was undergoing treatment at the leading cancer centre.

Community fundraising officer at the Christie charity, Toni Kennedy, said; "This dedicated group of fundraisers continue to put so much time, hard work and effort into organising these spectacular events for our charity to help cancer patients.

"We are so grateful because every penny raised from the event is going towards our new patient treatment centre which will include the largest early clinical trials unit in the world."

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