11/10/2026
Oh, what a night. It started with Kenny Garrick welcoming us with his saxophone music, followed by Brian Shajari, who led us into dinner with his bagpipes. Eddie Lawrence opened the event with the missing service person table. We then kicked off, and while starters were being served, we sold tickets for the two wheelbarrows full of booze and played Heads and Tails. After the main course, we drew the winning tickets for the barrows; Steve Skull and Fabrizio Facchini were the winners. All the while this was going on we had a magician and a characturist going round entertaining the guest at the tables. Following the meal, Commander Marie Whitehouse, our patron, gave a brief rundown of the work we have done over the eight years we have been operating. She finished by introducing our RAF guest speakers, WO Valerie Aplin-Mathieson and Wing Commander Colin Mathieson, who told us how they became the first mother and son to be deployed to war together, not once but twice: first in the Gulf and second in Afghanistan. After the speeches, we were entertained by DJ Martin Drake, which was only interrupted by the raffle and auction. We were very fortunate to be sponsored with prizes from RBL Southampton, Victory Inn Hamble, Asda Chandlers Ford, Tesco Bursledon, M&S Hedge End, B&Q, Pickwell Farm, Travis Perkins, Jewson, Novotel, Chiltern Manor Hotel, Figarati, Orange Rooms, Seabreeze Airbnb, Piccolo Mondo, Peps Peplow, Lush, and many more, along with private individuals, many of whom were at the ball. Because of all this, £6,170.59 was raised to help us continue our work.
Now for a bit of a rest before we start arranging for next year.
