A Gala Dinner Charity Ball organised by a team of emerging leaders from De Vere Tortworth Court Hotel, near Bristol, has smashed its fund-raising target for the Brain Tumour Support charity.
The organisers, aged between 18 and 20, had hoped the event would raise £5,000 but they ended up collecting £7,900.
Ethan Moore, restaurant floor manager at the hotel, who helped the emerging leaders plan the event, said: “I was honoured to be apart of something really special.”
More than 150 guests attended the De Vere Tortworth Court for the event, which featured a three-course meal and entertainment including fireworks, live music and a raffle and auction.
Eight people are currently on the Emerging Leader Programme at the hotel and were challenged to plan and host a charity event, keeping costs as low as possible in order to maximise the benefits for the chosen charity.
The EL Programme, which runs throughout the De Vere group of hotels, is an accelerated learning and development programme that offers real opportunities for people to carve out rewarding and successful careers in the hospitality sector.
The after-effects of both Brexit and the pandemic has seen the hospitality sector struggle to find the staff it needs, and the EL programme is being seen as one way to show people that the industry is one which can offer opportunities for people to carve out a career for life.
The in-depth 18-month, EL Programme enables future hospitality leaders to get to grips with every operational department of a large hotel, including reception, bars, conferences and housekeeping.
At the end of the programme, those taking part will have achieved a Level 3 Team Leader/Supervisor Apprenticeship and will have completed De Vere’s Inspire to Manage internal training modules.
Ethan Moore said: “We would like to say a huge thank you to our sponsors and other local businesses and people who supported our event, especially Sounds Commercial, 6 O’Clock Gin, Fever-Tree, Jamie Breese our host from the night, Mark Kelly at Bristol Sports, Essilor Luxottica, Demetri Loukanaris from Chase Lane.”
Raphael Herzog FIH , General Manager of De Vere Tortworth Court, said “I would like to say a massive thank you to the Emerging Leaders for putting on such a great event and raising such a fantastic amount for a very worthy good cause.
“They had to organise this event from scratch, and they smashed it very impressively.
“Huge congratulations to the emerging leaders, Ethan Moore, Cody Preston, Rory Kelly, Luke Wilcox, Grace Stokes, Morgan Nicholas and Daisy Knight, as well as to the hotel team for supporting them and delivering such a great event.”
