STATEMENT BY DAVID HAIGH REGARDING RADHA STIRLING, SHAHID BOLSEN AND DETAINED IN DUBAI
On Saturday evening I attended the Make A Wish Foundation Winter Ball – a star-studded Christmas event to help raise funding to help the charity continue its fantastic work of supporting children fighting life-threatening conditions.
Held at the prestigious Dorchester on London’s Park Lane, the event included a stunning performance by Beverley Knight and her fellow cast members from the Bodyguard and was attended by the likes of Toby Anstis, Bradley Walsh and Jahmene Douglas.
We heard inspiring and often sad stories of children supported by Make A Wish throughout the evening, including that of Georgina Anderson. Georgina was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of liver cancer in July at the age of 14 and it was her dream to record and release a single. Make A Wish, along with the goodwill of a number of celebrities, made her dream come true by helping her to record the single ‘Two Thirds of Piece’.
Sadly, Georgina died a day before the single was released, in the run-up to her 15th Birthday, and it has subsequently reached number 21 in the charts. The entire room was struck by this tragic story and it demonstrated exactly why we were all there. You can buy her single via iTunes.
I was honoured to be in the room witnessing a great outpouring of support and to hear exactly how the money raised makes a difference. By 11pm more than £106,000 had be generated from within the room through donations and a very tense auction. I was thrilled to leave with a signed cardboard cut out of one of my political heroes – Margaret Thatcher.
Next year I will be running the London Marathon, rowing the English Channel and Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro for a number of charities including Make A Wish Foundation. You can help make a real difference by visiting my JustGiving pages and donating:
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