Black tie bash helps group

From the archive, first published Thursday 12th Apr 2007.

SOUTH Essex charity Peaceful Place is in line for a bumper cash boost from an exclusive event at London's Guildhall.

Chairman Tony Smith, a JP from Hockley, will host a party of guests as an HSBC bank executive at the September black-tie dinner evening.

The Rochford-based charity he heads has been promised a percentage of profits.

He told fellow trustees of the group that cares for early onset dementia sufferers: "Potentially, we could benefit very substantially from this grand occasion, when huge sums are likely to be handed over at a post-dinner auction for major prizes."

The trustees' meeting began with a surprise £1,000 cheque from an anonymous donor.

It was handed to Mr Smith by another volunteer, Douglas Taylor, who said: "A member of Thundersley Methodist Church, insisting on anonymity, has given us this wonderful sum."

The charity's drive to raise funds for a purpose-built day centre and a residential care home for memory loss victims aged under 65 includes several events planned in the next few months.

These are a quiz night at St Luke's Place, the former Rochford hospital, on Friday, May 11, a jazz evening at Southend's civic house, Porters, on July 19, and a strawberry tea at Porters on August 26. Full details can be obtained from fundraiser Deborah Webb on deborah@peacefulplace.co.uk