Almost 1,000 guests were welcomed through the doors of the Park Plaza Hotel in London on Friday December 7, on what was to prove to be the fundraising event of the year for the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity, with a magnificent £212,000 being raised for construction families in crisis.
Guests were welcomed into the grand dining room by ‘Change Control to Major Tom’, the winners of best band in the Construction Rocks 2018 contest and they got everyone in the Christmas spirit.
A gourmet three course meal was enjoyed by everyone and the fundraising kicked off with a ‘heads and tails’ competition, a golden ticket prize worth £1,000 and a raffle, with all the winners generously donating their prize money back to the charity. A surprise visit from Des Moore, chairman of the NASC and CEO of TRAD Scaffolding also saw the charity receive a donation of a fantastic £30,000 which was raised by members at the annual NASC awards evening and ball a few weeks earlier.
The event was also the launch pad for the new Construction Industry Helpline app, A new and free mental health app which will provide vital information, advice and guidance on many wellbeing topics including stress, anxiety, depression, anger and suicidal thoughts.
The app complements the existing 24/7 Construction Industry Helpline and is aimed at construction workers and their families.
Each year, the charity awards the ‘Peter Capel’ Cup to recognise organisations that have made a substantial contribution to the Charity’s work and this year the highly coveted award was presented to construction software firm, COINS, who developed the app and made sure everything was ready to launch on the day.
COINS CEO, Robert Brown, said: “It has been a privilege for us to support and collaborate with the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity and we are absolutely delighted to have received this award. Funding and developing this app is our way for COINS to give something back to the construction industry”.
Guests were then treated to entertainment from comedian Andrew Bird, followed by actor, James Nesbitt OBE who amused the audience with stories from his varied career spanning three decades. Tenor Martin Toal rounded off the lunch with a rousing performance which had people up on their feet cheering for more.
Bill Hill, CEO of the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity, said: “What a day it has been, we’ve launched our new Construction Industry Helpline app and had a fantastic lunch with some very special people. We never cease to be amazed at the generosity of our supporters and we are truly grateful to everyone that dug so deep. I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank all the volunteers that helped on the day itself and our sponsors who make these events possible.
“The money raised will go towards continuing our vital helpline services and developing our Building Mental Health programme so that we can continue to support our construction families in need and make a real difference to people who have nowhere else to turn.”
The festivities continued well into the evening with guests making the most of the networking opportunities and continuing to get into the Christmas spirit.
