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MAD HATTERS TEA PARTY 2010 More stars than the Royal Variety Show! |
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The last Sunday
in January saw the London Taxidrivers Fund for
Underprivileged Children’s 2010 Mad Hatters Tea Party.
Once again it was held in the magnificent surroundings of the
Grosvenor House Hotel. The hotel’s donation for the day of
the Great Room, allowing 750 children and numerous carers
to have the time of their lives, is brilliant. They deserve a
huge round of thanks and as good a service for the rest of the
year as taxis can give. The children’s day began at around 1pm when they were greeted by numerous clowns, costumed characters and Pearly Queens and Kings and then led into Great Room where they were thrilled to find hundreds of mixed glow novelties, all kindly donated by Global Marketing. Just as amazingly, the famous Household Cavalry assisted in carrying guests in wheelchairs through! The children then tucked into their sandwiches, cakes and drinks, while the Fund’s Hon Chairman, Dial-a-Cab’s David Lessman (D19) welcomed them. Audrey Sherry kindly donated fruit for the party and boy do 750 children eat a lot of fruit! On stage was the Worshipful Lord Mayor of Westminster, Councillor Duncan Sandys. His two year old son was with him and waved frantically at the crowd while MP Lee Sharp and his wife Estelle also joined in the fun, but the most poignant moment came when Gerry Cooper, now in his 80s, presented David Lessman with a cheque for £100. David informed everyone that Gerry had gone on the Fund’s outings as a child – including the first ever trip - and subsequently became a taxi driver himself, driving numerous children on many of the LTFUC outings over the years. But back to the show! The wonderful lyric soprano, Bergit Beer, showed off her outstanding voice with a magical version of Over the Rainbow. How the Fund managed to get such a busy world traveller to appear and sing at the party is just of immense credit to them. The talented Bournemouth Carnival Band followed Birgit and as always, gave their usual superb performance in creating a carnival atmosphere. They led onto another donation when David Lessman was joined on stage by a member of the Hilton Hotel, Euston who presented the LTFUC with a cheque for £300, which had been raised from an indoor fixed bike ride held last year - one in which David took part! And no, he didn’t win! EDF Energy, Canning Town donated a further cheque – this one for a magnificent £1000. Two cast members of The Bill, Jason Barnett (Eddie Olosunje) and Micah Balfour (PC Ben Gayle) made an appearance on stage to the delight of the kids – who then stayed on the floor to welcome the Destiny All Stars Cheerleaders, who also gave a great performance. Then the day’s first big surprise. To a huge pop, the 2009 Britain’s Got Talent winners, Diversity appeared on stage. The children’s screams were so loud that even the Great Room’s huge chandeliers shook! It was almost mass hysteria, quietening down just enough to hear the group say how they remembered their roots and all the support the LTFUC had previously given them before they became famous. That was why they wanted to come back to thank all their supporters. A bunch of really great guys and the LTFUC were grateful |
to Danni and Jenny
for making it happen. Diversity brought hundreds of posters with
them to sign and the children queued tirelessly for autographs
and to have photos taken with them. The Blue & White Rope Skippers came on with an amazingdisplay of their tremendous skills and were followed by two members from Eastenders - Madeline Dugga (Lauren Branning) and Tom Law who plays Peter Beale. They too stayed on to sign autographs. The acts and celebrities just kept coming and next on stage was I’m a Celebrity get me out of Here winner, Gino D’Acampo and runner-up, Kim Woodburn. They entered in style using the Bournemouth Carnival Band’s Batmobile – not to mention an escort of Batmen! Then came Britain’s Got Talent competitors, Richard and Liam of Faces of Disco who delighted the audience with their fun. They led up to boy band Blazin’ Squad, who were also greeted with loud squeals from adoring teenybopper fans who must have known every one of their hit records! Yet another great performance... The next act saw a sudden arrival of male carers joining the kids as the Cheeky Girls - Gabriela and Monica – came for their eighth consecutive appearance at the Mad Hatters. Their performance was as good as ever, with their outfits showing that the girls were filling out compared to their ultra-skinny days – hence the sudden arrival of males! Naturally, DaC Chairman Brian Rice and Compliance Officer Allan Evans maintained their cool in the situation and stayed on the balcony with their wives - just relying on binoculars! Next onto the stage bounced boxing’s WBA Heavyweight Champion of the World, David Haye. After being interviewed by the ever-present and brilliant Dave Davies about his title win against Russian monster Nikolay Valuev, Britain's latest champion signed autographs for the huge queue of waiting children. David is scheduled to make his first title defence against American John Ruiz in Manchester on 3 April. Britain’s Got Talent stars Quick Change Dance Illusionists then went through their astonishing act, with both children and adults looking on in amazement as right in front of their eyes the duo changed outfits in a second. Then followed the annual character parade. This saw the children (and some adults!) rushing onto the dance floor to grab hold of their favourite character for the conga. The atmosphere was just incredible! Former Hip Hop International World / UK Street dance Champions Plague performed a brilliant quickfire routine, which was the complete opposite to the party’s next trio of guests. Kids suddenly went silent – the first time all evening - as the Dr Who music filled the Great Room. Lights lowered and suddenly, appearing in the middle of the huge dance floor, were Orion, Elsie and Nimrod – but that’s only to their friends! Before our eyes came the immortal introduction sounds of: Exterminate! Exterminate! The three Daleks eased up on their usual ray exterminators and instead squirted all those close enough with water! The kids loved it! A star of the future, 14 year old |
Jazz Blaack, then sang
as though she had been doing it forever. No wonder the children
loved her – she was also the closest act to their age! Bergit Beer then returned to perform an excellent version of the Sarah Brightman hit from 1997, Time to Say Goodbye. Even non-opera must have felt moved by Birgit’s soprano voice on this great piece of music. DJ Dave Davies then announced the disco and everyone poured onto the huge dance floor as the balloons came down! Then a final surprise! Before leaving, all the children were led through the LTFUC’s magnificent grotto piled high with brilliant toys. Thanks must go to Annette from Jelly Cats, Clare from The Disney Store and M&S (Marble Arch) that allowed every child to leave with a large overflowing goody bag and huge smiles on their faces! What a party, what a show... In addition to all those above, thanks also go to DG Leisure – Chateau Chocolate, who donated the chocolate fountain that served over 2000 chocolate covered marshmallows at the party. Also, special thanks go to Denise and the great face-painters who worked tirelessly all afternoon! Few children went home looking exactly as they had arrived! Thanks also to the team of helpers on the balcony for making sandwiches and tirelessly serving refreshments non-stop all afternoon. Then there was the Army and Police Cadets who did a magnificent job in helping to keep the children safe all afternoon and manning the stairs, stage and exits. Huge thanks also to the two workshop leaders from Albert & Friends Instant Circus who taught the children juggling, plate spinning and diabolo! Many others we haven’t room to mention also deserve thanks for making this children’s party the huge success it always is; sponsors, those who donate welcome cheques and the many who assist the day. But special thanks must go to the Grosvenor House, including Event Manager Natalie Daniels and Technical Manager Ben Behan. I don’t think any of us would want to clear up afterwards, yet year after year the hotel is happy to put on the event. Soldiers from the Lifeguards and Blues & Royals, Met Police (Euston and W.E.Central) Traffic Garage, Sgt Jack Warner of the City of London Police, Laser Creations, Carol Burwood of ABC Imaging UK, Mark Cohen of Tranceart, Cadburys for their supply of chocolates, Photography (Mark Cooper & Patrick Jones), Video (Maurice Gilliam), Soho Fire Station, Transport for London, Harrow Cadet Attachment, Pearly Kings & Queens, UK Garrison, London Communications, Capespan, ColourFX, Nando’s, Snazaroo, Trebor Bassett Ltd, Turner CN Enterprises, Nintendo, E1 Entertainment, Next, Butlins, St. John’s Ambulance and anyone else Call Sign may have missed. But of course, there is also one special group of people who donate their time the whole year round – the LTFUC committee and their other halves. Nothing less than excellent could give the day and their tireless work the justice it deserves... |
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