Mandarin Ball for MSA

Photo: Pete Pinnington

Mayor and Mayoress of Rochdale and the Mayor of Whitworth and Consort open the Ball

The first ever black tie event to be held for the Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) trust, The Mandarin Ball, which was organised by Bev Wrigley and her brother Eric Armitage who has MSA, raised £2,976 for the charity.

Bev said: “It went extremely well. For the first event, we had over 80 people in attendance and we raised almost £3,000. It was a brilliant evening.”

The event was held on Saturday 5 April at The Riverside in Whitworth and was attended by Mayor of Rochdale Peter Rush and Mayor of Whitworth
Karen Ruane.

During the evening, those in attendance were treated to a four course dinner, a compère for the evening and performances from a close up magician and the Potatoemen. A presentation was also made by Katie Heyward from the MSA trust.

Katie said: “It was an absolutely brilliant evening. It is the first black tie event that has been held for us and it was a really fantastic night.”

The Riverside in Whitworth packed for the Mandarin Ball (Photo: Pete Pinnington)

Money raised from the event will now help fund research into what causes MSA. Katie added: “Eric’s family wanted the money to go towards research so that is what it will be used for. We don’t know what causes MSA so that is one of the big things we are working towards. We are currently working to create a network that gives doctors access to more information across the whole of Europe.”

Bev added: “For the first event, I think we did well to raise the amount that we did. We knew it was never going to be a huge amount so we are pleased with what we finished with.”

Unfortunately, Eric was unable to attend the event as he is ill but did make an appearance via Facetime. Since his diagnosis in 2007, Eric has raised over £20,000 for the charity.

It is now hoped the event will become an annual event with discussions already ongoing regarding the next event. “We are talking about doing
another event in early May. This event fell on some Easter holidays so some people couldn’t attend but we are looking to do it every year and are looking forward to doing it again,” said Bev.

Katie added: “The family is hoping to make this an annual event and that is something we welcome. We would hope that it is something we could roll out across the whole of the country after the success of this event.”