A Charity Reception on The House Of Commons Terrace, 5th November 2009

Hosted by Peter Ainsworth, MP.

Stephen Pollard.

Compered by Mark Damazer.

The Raffle prizes

Download a pdf of the evening's programme

As well as being in the company of many of our loyal friends and supporters, we also had the pleasure of meeting many people for the first time on what proved to be a most memorable night.

Almost 100 guests took a guided tour of the House of Commons before the reception began. The tour proved to be incredibly popular – we’re told that it was one of the highlights of the night and that it was a great introduction to a great charity event that followed.

We were very fortunate to have had the support of Peter Ainsworth MP, our host, and we are deeply grateful to him for his warm welcome to our guests; opening the evening with a humorous and memorable speech!

We would also like to thank Stephen Pollard, political editor and journalist, who kindly came along to speak to us.

Our thanks go also to Mark Damazer, Controller of Radio 4, who compered the night so beautifully and who, as a result, now has a bigger fan club than the Today programme!

The support and generosity of our guests resulted in excess of £31,000 being raised on the night; a figure way beyond our expectations. This, of course, would not have been possible had we not received such very special auction packages and raffle prizes, all of which were donated so generously by supporters with a personal link to a child or family whose lives have been affected by myotubular myopathy. Our heartfelt thanks go to you all.

Professor Francesco Muntoni, Scientific Advisor to the Myotubular Trust, pictured above with Dr Heinz Jungbluth (far left) and Silvia Torelli , spoke about the important role of the Trust and how the lives of children affected by myotubular myopathy will one day be changed.

Our heartfelt thanks go to each and every one of our guests, speakers and supporters for joining us and making this evening such a success.

We really hope that you enjoy viewing the stunning photos, courtesy of Chrysoulla Kyprianou and Peter Blandford; thank you both for capturing so many memories of the evening for us.

Myotubular Trust would like to acknowledge the help of the five volunteers from Cap Gemini; Megan Russell, Helen Sharp, Annie Thompson, Caroline Cook and Jenni Gordon who worked so hard on the night. Not forgetting too the wonderful fundraising committee for their tremendous input, not only on the night but in the months leading up to the reception – it simply wouldn’t have been possible without you.

The fundraising committee: (appearing from left to right) Anne Lennox; Andrew Lennox; Lizzie Geffen and Johanna Martin; Andy Wilson-Smith, Melanie Spring, Ilaria Gregotti; Marco Gregotti and Chrysoulla and James Rosling.