FASHION SHOW RAISES THOUSANDS

A charity fashion show and fundraising event held at The Furlong shopping centre on Thursday 5th October has raised in excess of £3,000 for local homeless charity, Hope for Food.

The event was expertly organised by the Churchill Foundation, the charitable arm of Ringwood-based Churchill Retirement Living.

The evening kicked off with live music from local performers Mikey Ball, Bitter Green and Kez Hinton. Boston Tea Party generously provided bubbles and appetisers to over 250 attendees.

Many of the other stores from The Furlong also got behind the event too. Crew Clothing, Phase Eight, Fat Face, Callula Beauty, Hobbs London, Furlong Furniture, COOKS, House of Gerry Weber, Joules, moshulu, Waterstones and COOK all stayed open late and offered enticing discounts to ticket holders.

Local Ringwood businesses and Churchill Foundation Partners were incredibly generous and donated a plethora of prizes to help raise additional funds on the night. Prizes included a Samsung TV, Gerry Weber Handbag, hand-knitted throw and Toys of Ringwood baby gifts.

The Fashion Show, set in a beautifully lit marquee (donated free of charge for the evening from Buchannan Marquees), featured a number of outfits from the stores at The Furlong and models included family, friends, volunteers and store staff.  The evening was brilliantly and comically compèred by Ian Payne from the Churchill Foundation.

Hope for Food is a local charity based in Bournemouth, set up and run entirely by volunteers. The organisation was founded by Claire Matthews in 2012 with the aim of providing life’s basic essentials on a day to day basis to people in need of help. It recently teamed up with the Churchill Foundation to launch a groundbreaking new initiative – the Clean Machine – a specially designed van and mobile washing machine service which provides clean clothes, food and respite for local homeless people.