Celebrities Last Welfare Galas

The first Ball of the season was last 5 June in Hampton Court´s Evgeny Lebedev´s house. The owner and President Mikhail Gorbachev were the hosts. Tables have been bought for £15,000 and the most coveted auction prize was dinner with the Man Who Changed the World. Last year private equity investor Cyrus Vandrevala bid £75,000 for it and joined President Gorbachev with his family in Moscow; the previous year it went to Hugh Grant, and before that the mobile phone tycoon John Caudwell.
Elton John’s annual White Tie and Tiara Ball got under way last week at Old Windsor, next to Windsor Castle. The guest list included Tom Ford, David Walliams and model Lily Cole. Thomas Hughes-Hallett, the CEO of Marie Curie Cancer Care who was the auctioneer at the Russian Midsummer Ball, believes it is only thanks to the current crop of super auction heroes that record sums are still being raised for charity. He believes: "It is never certain how an auction will go and when people like Richard Caring, Cyrus Vandrevala and John Caudwell step up to the plate it makes a huge difference to the sums raised and to the help given to those in need." Others big charity donors include Sir Philip Green.