Thanks to all our wonderful supporters, Ace Africa is thrilled to announce that we raised a record-breaking £203,187 at our gala event on 24 November.

More than 240 guests were at the beautiful Lindley Hall in Westminster to witness an evening that started in style. Drinks and canapés were prepared by Ace Africa’s Patron and chef-in-residence Phil Howard and his team, who could be seen working their culinary magic on the central stage.

As the audience sat down for dinner, marshalled by our MC for the night, they were treated to the spectacular sight of the “Flying Stars” of Cirque Bijou. These wonderfully skilled dancers hovered high above the guests, defying gravity with their breath-taking performance.

The three founders of Ace Africa – Joe Waddington MBE, Augustine Wasonga and Anthony Okoti – briefly welcomed the guests before introducing the thought-provoking remarks of Alison Wilson, trustee of the Innocent Foundation and a recent visitor to the Ace Africa programmes. A short testimonial film featuring a handful of long-standing supporters and advocates of Ace Africa provided an external view of the organisation’s work.

After a delicious main course prepared by Phil Howard and his team, the inimitable Charlie Ross jumped onto the central stage to conduct a highly energetic auction (raising £123,000) and a very successful pledge (raising £55,000), targeting the issue of FGM (female genital mutilation), a controversial practice affecting so many young girls in rural Kenya and Tanzania.

During the evening an escape to Tuscany was raffled raising £4,000 and then, to everyone’s surprise, the lucky winner Mark Tennant decided spontaneously and very generously to improvise his own auction and sell his prize, securing an incredible additional £11,000! Silent auction lots equally generated frenzied bidding activity in the room (£30,000 raised). Special thanks must go to the Heanen family, who were extremely energetic bidders – and went home with several highly sought after lots.