We are delighted to announce that we raised more than £3,000 for MacMillan Cancer Care at our first ever Charity Ball this weekend.

The glitzy Black Tie event at Ramside Hall in Durham was a celebration event for our staff who work tirelessly all year round to help customers find the right travel insurance they need for their holidays.

As many of our customers have serious medical conditions we already work with many charities across the UK, and this year our staff voted for MacMillan to be the company’s chosen charity.

The Ball included a Director’s welcome, two raffles, an awards ceremony and some wonderful ways to raise money on the night including the chance to win a Harrod’s Christmas Bear and a week off work!

The event was just the latest in a series of initiatives to take place in what has been a packed year of fundraising here at Just Travel Cover, including a coffee morning and cake sale and a staff ‘weight shifters’ competition, all raising money for this fantastic cause and edging us closer to our overall target of £5,000.

More than 70 guests filled the Ballroom at Durham City’s Ramside Hall and the night started in style as Guinness World Record holding caricaturist Paul Slattery entertained with his comical sketches.

The evening was hosted by BBC Tees’ Gary Philipson who welcomed Just Travel Cover’s Chris Newton and MacMillan’s Jane Curry to the stage to introduce the evening. Once dinner had been served the raffle got underway excitement was building as a Samsung Galaxy tablet, a £500 Curry’s gift card and a two-night holiday to Jersey were among the prizes kindly donated by local businesses and partners from across the UK.

Five special awards were handed out on the evening too; 18-year-old Connor Peverley picking up ‘Best Newcomer’ and supervisor Faye Wray scooping ‘Employees’ Choice’. Other winners included Training Supervisor Amy Smith for going the ‘Extra Mile’, and Sophie Wray who was named the ‘People’s Champion’ after receiving a number of positive comments from customers.

The Shakedown Band took to the stage after some final fundraising initiatives were announced, rounding off a fabulous evening of entertainment all for a great cause.

Andrew Jackson, Managing Director at Just Travel Cover said “It was a fantastic evening to celebrate what has been a very rewarding 2017 with new staff joining the company and picking up the Best Travel Insurance Provider award. We deal with customers every day who struggle with medical conditions and it’s nice to be able to give something back. With the money raised for the Ball, the events we’ve had so far and some others we have planned we hope to raise £5,000 for MacMillan this year”

Why MacMillan?

Due to the type of work we do we already work with Charities across the UK who direct their members to us for help on finding the right level of cover for them. We wanted to run events across the year to raise money for one Charity and asked our staff to vote.

Several staff have family members who have suffered with Cancer including Telesales Supervisor Rebecca Bainbridge who lost both her grandmother and her cousin who was only in her early 20s. Rebecca said “MacMillan were a huge support during what was an extremely difficult time for our family”.

With special thanks to the following companies who donated prizes for the event:

Debenhams, Accord, Perkbox, Wired, Newborn Story, Good to go insurance, As you like it, IDT, Socrates Systems, Ramside Hall, Mayday Assistance, Barbour, AJG, Nike, Visit County Durham, Beamish Wild, Beamish Museum, Club Zest, Sunderland AFC, Platinum Hair and Beauty, Flysure, The Idol, Insurance Choice, Media Travel, BRS, Blink IS, Argo, Axiom, JM Glendinning, Gabrielle’s, The Shagorika, LIM.

See some of the photos from the event here: https://flic.kr/s/aHskx52iPM