The Lucy Rayner ‘Secret Garden Gala Dinner 2019’

On Saturday night our special guests stepped through the keyhole, kindly gifted by Harris Carpentry Limited (Epsom) into our secret garden; a magical land filled with soft and bouncy grass gifted by Perfectly Green Artificial Grass and hanging ivy. After being greeted by Alice and the Mad Hatter (from Acting Moon Events) who were ready for a picture pose, the Cheshire Cat was on hand to impress with his perfectly formed splits and acrobats whilst guests sipped their welcome bubbles sponsored by Insurancewith.

The main room was transformed into an enchanted garden thanks to @reveriesevents filled with the perfect finishing touches of blossom trees, drapes and mystical colours to cast tree-like shadows on the walls.

The large hanging signage with secret gates that were gifted by Raccoon set the perfect scene for our exclusive party among the whimsical woodland.

Framing the blossom tree adorned stage were the hidden gardens and what lay inside was every golf lover and sweet tooth’s dream. A crazy golf course Crazygolf4u to the left and a candy floss machine @petworthdisco to the right kept everyone happy, with them snapping the moment in the fantastic magic mirror afterwards to keep the memory alive (the magic mirror was kindly donated by Animation Events).

As over 400 guests settled down for their meal our very own local Maggie Cooper set the tone for the evening and filled the air with a variety of classical songs.

Each unique table was set with its very own personalised design created by the talented Flowers by Liz the tree logs gifted by Jake Shepard Arboricultural Services. China pots, flowers, moss and conkers hidden beneath the tea lights gave a realistic and authentic feel.

We welcomed our guests with a secret garden brochure on their place holders, designed by Lorraine Porter from Advance online along with a little gift from us; a silver pin to launch our new refreshed logo gifted by ML Badges & More Ltd.

Our acts were in full swing as dinner was served before the clock struck 9pm and our guest speaker Josh Connolly was invited onto the stage. He spoke from the heart and captivated the entire room with not a sound to be heard – we thank you Josh for delivering your touching story.

Following on from Josh’s emotional speech the great Terry Simms conducted the start of our live auction, raising some fantastic funds for the charity.

With everyone well and truly warmed up DJ Danny (DJ2k) finished the evening with his dance sets. Without fail he started the party with Lucy’s tune (Show me love) blaring through the sound system, with not many able to stay seated! The evening continued with great tunes and not a clear space on the floor to been seen.

Thank you to our main evening sponsors, Reveries Weddings APAC and Maple Parking – without you, Saturday wouldn’t have been possible. We look forward to partnering again in future events.

Photo credits Rejuventing With Joy

Thank you to our dedicated LRF team and the evening volunteers, who worked tirelessly on the night.

And lastly…THANK YOU to everyone who attended! Your continued support of our charity, the kind words and the generous donations we received are beyond amazing.

All in all a fantastic evening and a brilliant day to remember Lucy on her 30th birthday.

See you next year – 10th October has been provisionally booked!

Here’s just a few of the pictures from the Magic Mirror – you can see the full gallery here…