Health and wellbeing networking company The Green Pages celebrated its third year in business with a charity gala dinner and awards night at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Chester.
The gala dinner was held to support North Wales business woman Ghazala Jabeen with her ongoing campaign to fundraise for Pancreatic Cancer UK and to raise awareness of the disease.
Ghazala’s work for the charity began after the loss of her husband Harold Martin Swindells (aka Mr HMS) to the disease in 2014.
Guests enjoyed a stunning performance from special guest classical singer Tom Spence, whose career highlights to date include supporting world renowned classical singer Russell Watson. They also enjoyed live music from blues singer Becky Lee as well as a dance performance from the award winning Bollywood Burnout.
The gala, held as part of Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month activities, was opened by Lord Mayor of Chester Cllr Angela Claydon and also included a moving speech from Pancreatic Cancer UK spokesperson Debbie Wells.
The night also marked the launch of the inaugural Green Pages Awards to celebrate the success of businesses involved in the health and wellbeing sector in the North West and North Wales.
Green Pages founder Svitlana Bulava said: “With the Green Pages network celebrating a very successful three years of expansion across Chester, Liverpool and the Wirral, we felt the time was right to organise something to help Ghazala’s fundraising efforts.
“Every day in the UK, 24 families are given the heartbreaking news that someone they love has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer so we are delighted to support the vital work that Pancreatic Cancer UK do.
“It was such a pleasure to see our members celebrate all their hard work, successes and achievements over the last year. Well done to the award winners and a huge thank you to those who supported the organisation of the event and donated prizes for the raffle. Special thanks too to the staff at the Crowne Plaza for looking after us so well.”
Relationship manager at NatWest and one of the event sponsors Sarah Bailey said: “It was an honour to judge and be part of the first ever Green Pages Business Awards. There are some remarkable businesses that arecommitted to health and wellbeing and offer a great range of services to their customers. The awards were a wonderful way to celebrate their successes and achievements and I congratulate all the winners and nominees.”
Award sponsor Nicky Abell-Francis, owner of Body and Mind therapies clinic Zenchi, said: “We were very pleased to help recognise the many varied and eco-conscious businesses in the local area and hopefully help bring them to the attention of many more clients.”
Donations from pledges made on the night are still coming in but the gala night has already raised over £1,000 for the charity. More information about the sponsors, awards and winners can be found on the Green Pages website www.mygreenpages.co.uk .
