ARCHIVE: West Midlands Charity Lunch 2008
23/06/2008
Daily Mail columnist Richard Littlejohn has helped the West Midlands district raise nearly £20,000 for the Charity at its annual celebrity lunch in Birmingham. Littlejohn was guest speaker at the lunch held at the newly renovated Holte Suite within the Aston Villa Football Stadium complex. It was attended by more than 300 of the region's top business and media figures.
The controversial columnist worked in Birmingham in the 1970s before moving to London. In a lively session he took questions from the guests as well as recalling some of his favourite stories about his working life in the Midlands and in Fleet Street..
The West Midlands District has been holding annual celebrity lunches since 1993 with long term sponsorship from businessman Rod Ackrill and his company Chase Midland.
This year more than £8,000 was raised in the raffle and auction with a top bid of £2,000 which secured a Grand Prix hospitality package donated by Renault UK.Continental Airlines provided the star prize for the Raffle, a pair of Business First tickets on its service from Birmingham to New York.
District Chairman Gerry Armes said: "All our speakers give their time free to us and we are very grateful to Richard for agreeing to speak this year. We also received terrific support from our sponsor and businesses who donated fabulous prizes for the raffle and the auction."
Picture shows the top Raffle Prize winner John Lahiffe from Tourism Ireland with Ursula Hammond from Continental Airlines, Richard Littlejohn, lunch Sponsor Rod Ackrill (far left) and West Midlands District chairman Gerry Armes (far right).