Review & gallery: 40th Anniversary Summer Ball

On Friday 27th June we gathered at the Buxton Palace Hotel to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the UKHA, organised and hosted by our Manchester & NW regional committee, headed by Jan Flynn.

Summer Ball Review

Founded in London in 1985, with Lord Forte as our patron, we have grown steadily and now have 5 regions and all were well represented at this event. Alongside our current members we had old friends and friends we hadn’t met yet.

We were thrilled that a founder member – Brendan O’Connor was with us, along with past and present National Chairs including, Ian Hughes, Lorraine Dale, Kerry Adams and our current National Chair Lisa Williams, they were all there to celebrate. There was a rolling slide show on a big screen, which included lots of memories of past events and members who are no longer with us, they were not forgotten.

Our evening commenced at The Palace Hotel and Spa, Buxton, with Kir Royale and canapés, before we proceeded to the lavish setting of the Ballroom. We enjoyed a sumptuous 4 course meal with wine and port to accompany the cheese course.

Our charity partner for the evening was The Burnt Chef Project and we were thrilled to raise over £1500 to support the good work that they carry out throughout our industry. The 'elephant in the room' representing mental health issues, was represented by an actual elephant!

Our raffle was drawn throughout the evening with many lovely prizes being won and the goody bags were the biggest and best yet! We again thank our sponsors, supporters and friends who helped to make this a memorable evening, we couldn’t do it without you!

Jan's last job of the evening was to pass the baton to Janet Thompson and the Yorkshire & North East Region, who will host next year's Summer Ball before everyone danced the night away.

Please enjoy the memories we created throughout the evening below.