Business Come Dancing Summer Ball raises £4,500 for charity

To support local charities focused on life-long degenerative illnesses, the South West business community, including staff from a number of professional service firms, took part in the Business Come Dancing Summer Ball 2017. Joseph Garrett of consulting firm Mazars finished came in third in the competition, raising around £900 for the charities.

The South West business community collectively converged on the dance-floor for the Business Come Dancing Summer Ball 2017, as they aimed to support local charities, provide corporate social responsibility coverage and to help staff unwind. The event, which took place in June, was hosted and organised by Pavilion Dance South West and Lewis-Manning Hospice. The event in the Pavillion Ballroom was further sponsored by regional businesses, including consulting firm Mazars and The Zip Yard.

This year’s event included note-worthy performances of Persian dance, Caribbean Bachata, and various street styles, along with 1940s social dance and contemporary standard styles. The participants of the contest were drawn from local businesses, including staff from Mazars, Jelf Group, Purple HR, Bluealake, Hotel Lollingwood, Move On, rt, and Synergy. In total there were 20 participants, each with the challenge of raising more than £700 each for the Parkinson's Dance project and Lewis-Manning Hospice.

Lewis-Manning Hospice is a charity providing people suffering from life-long degenerative illnesses, such as cancer and Parkinson’s disease, with free care and support; while Parkinson's Dance South West (PDSW) aims to support the one in every 500 people in the UK living with the disease, giving them access to dance related activities in a fun, stimulating but safe environment.

The winner of the event was Ayesha Ben-Cheikh, from Synergy, while Hannah Walker and Cali Headley followed in second. Joseph Garrett, a participant from consulting firm Mazars, and his partner Cali Headley performed a Bachata, finishing third. Rising standards of corporate social responsibility in the consulting industry have seen a number of other firms including Capgemini, Mace and PwC among others do their bit for charity, however, impressively, the feat of fundraising from the Mazars employee was achieved without a firm-wide participation in the event itself, with Garrett raising a sponsorship haul of £900 from friends, family and colleagues. The event as a whole raised £4500 for these two local charities and the funds.

As CEO of PDSW and Head Judge of the contest, Zannah Doan said, "We are delighted that this event is going from strength to strength, and seeing so many individuals approaching dance for the first time with absolute commitment is commendable. We thank everyone for their donations, time and energy spent on this event as our work with Parkinson’s Dance is such a valuable part of what we do.”

Following his successful stint as a dancer, Garrett meanwhile commented, “I was extremely nervous on the day, but when the dance started all nerves were lost and I was very happy with our performance. I feel that thanks to having such a great teacher we were able to produce a much better dance than I had envisioned. I am delighted to have helped raise so much money for the Business Come Dancing Summer Ball charities.”