MORE than a thousand guests partied from start to finish when a charity staged its flagship ladies day event for the first time in two years.

The Angel Trust had not been able to hold its popular biannual ladies day event in its usual format since 2019, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Whilst it held a socially-distanced festival style version of the event last summer, organisers were pleased to return to the marquee venue at Hardwick Hall Hotel, in Sedgefield, yesterday.

Funds raised from the event go towards the work of the Bishop Auckland-based Angel Trust, which provides financial support and services to individuals and organisations in need across County Durham and Darlington.

Read more: Diana Ross announces concert in Durham in summer 2022 - how to get tickets TODAY

Charity founder Clair McGregor said: “Ladies day is our big fundraising event, we usually have two a year so it was really difficult to lose that much income.

"During the pandemic I did begin to wonder if we would get back to holding the events which are so important to us and the work we do, I worried that the charity might not survive.

"But those ladies yesterday showed me they wanted to come out, to have a great day and support us and reassured me we would survive.

"When the tickets went on sale they sold out within four minutes, that's 1,350 tickets.

"And those ladies were ready to party.

"Usually everyone is up dancing half-way through the event, yesterday they were straight up and dancing from start to finish.”

The Northern Echo:

The carnival production began with a salute to all the key workers in the room, before entertainment from The X Factor's 2017 winners Rak-Su, Tina Turner and Motown tribute acts and Tess Tickle and The Dragettes.

Much to the surprise of most audience members, 30 guests had secretly been in rehearsals to become part of the entertainment themselves.

With Tess on stage, the 30 secret performers stepped up and performed a flashmob dance routine before heading backstage for a costume change to perform a Sister Act routine on stage.

We hope to get a date for the next Ladies Day, which will be at Hardwick Hall Hotel again in late April or early May next year, and put tickets on sale in the next few days.

Clair said: "The atmosphere really was electric, from the moment we kicked off.

"Everyone was clearly ready for the party and to support us, after being locked in for so long, and it made for an incredible atmosphere like I've never felt before.

"We hope to get a date for the next Ladies Day, which will be at Hardwick Hall Hotel again in late April or early May next year, and put tickets on sale in the next few days."

The Northern Echo:

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

You can also follow our dedicated County Durham Facebook page for all the latest in the area by clicking here.

For all the top news updates from right across the region straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on newsdesk@nne.co.uk or contact 01325 505054