Bond-themed ball raises £5k for North Devon cancer charities

A James Bond-themed ball has raised £5,000 to support people in North Devon affected by cancer.

The Casino Royale Gala at The Barnstaple Hotel on August 30 featured cocktails, roulette tables and live music by Temple, as well as an auction, raffle and plenty of sharp tuxedos and dazzling dresses.

It was one of the first events to take place at the hotel, which officially re-opened just a few weeks beforehand following a major £2million revamp in the wake of damage caused by Storm Darragh last December.

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All the tickets sold out for the evening of fun, flair and fundraising, organised by North Devon and Barnstaple town councillor Julie Hunt in support of ChemoHero and Royal Devon Hospitals Charity (formerly known as Over and Above).

It was the fourth fundraising ball organised by Councillor Hunt, whose events have raised thousands of pounds for local charities since 2022.

She said: “It was a fantastic evening in aid of two special causes that are close to my heart and we are very lucky to have in North Devon.

“Thank you to The Brend Collection for being such brilliant hosts, to our generous event sponsors John Fowler Holidays and DX Signs and of course all the people who bought tickets and made it such a memorable evening.”

Above: Playing up the Bond theme as the cheques from the Casino Royale Gala are presented by Councillor Julie Hunt to Rob Wallis from ChemoHero and Julie Whitton from Royal Devon Hospitals Charity. Credit: Royal Devon Hospitals Charity

Half of the proceeds will go to Royal Devon Hospitals Charity’s Fern Centre, the charity’s cancer wellbeing centre at North Devon District Hospital, with the other half helping ChemoHero to provide boxes of useful and luxury items to chemotherapy patients on their first treatment.

Julie Whitton, community fundraiser for Royal Devon Hospitals Charity said: “We can’t thank Julie enough for putting her heart and soul into another fantastic evening of fundraising for the Fern Centre.

“The centre opened in 2020 following a £1.5m fundraising appeal and Royal Devon Hospitals Charity continues to raise the money to needed to cover the centre’s annual running costs.

“It’s thanks to Julie and everyone who supported this event that the Fern Centre is able to offer a whole range of free counselling, complementary therapies, information and wellbeing support to anyone in North Devon anyone affected by cancer.”

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Rob Wallis, ChemoHero Co-founder and operations manager, said it was a ‘brilliant’ evening.

He added: “The funds raised will carry on our founder Lisa’s legacy by helping us gift Boxes of Kindness and run our Treat Trolley for patients at the Seamoor Unit, as well as support Paul, our ChemoHero cancer care counsellor based at the fantastic Fern Centre.

“We want to say a huge thank you to Julie and everyone who came along and made the evening so special.”