This family event held as a celebration of Caron’s life at The Dorchester Hotel, London on Saturday, November 22nd, 2014 was a truly fabulous evening. Gloria, Stephen, Russ and Caron’s boys Charlie and Gabriel were joined by family and many of their celebrity friends for a dinner to celebrate Caron’s 10th Anniversary.
It was an evening that brought 350 guests together as one big ‘family’. The atmosphere was electric right from the beginning as guests arrived to a champagne reception with Matt Baker giving a great Welcome speech. Also during the reception, two of Caron’s friends who worked with her on TV, Fiona Foster and Yasmin Pasha gave moving and funny tributes. Then it was into the main ballroom for dinner where Gary Williams and his Band welcomed the guests with some ‘mood’ music.
Gloria together with Russ took to the stage giving a speech to welcome the guests, where they were also joined by Gloria’s husband Stephen and Caron’s sons Charlie and Gabriel.
When the first course was over, Gloria introduced a newly produced film to show how the Caron Keating Foundation works and how the money has been spent so far. With a working title of ‘Caron’s Legacy’.
After this Gloria introduced Philip Schofield on stage, who gave a marvellous tribute to Caron and told some previously unheard funny stories.
Next it was Lord Archer who acted as Auctioneer for the evening. In all, eight items were auctioned, raising a stunning £75,000. We must say a big thank you to Lord Archer, who must be one of the best Auctioneers anyone has ever heard.
Following the Auction, Gloria gave an introduction to a video of celebrities who couldn’t be there which included Sir Cliff Richard, Rod Stewart, Neil Diamond, Michael Ball, Rob Brydon, Ant and Dec.
Following this Gloria introduced Janet Ellis and Mark Curry to pay their tributes to Caron from when they worked together on Blue Peter.
Janet then introduced her daughter Sophie Ellis-Bextor who gave a fantastic performance with her band, Sophie performed all her hits and more. We are very grateful to Sophie for joining us because she is so closely linked through her mum Janet, with Caron and her family.
‘Woman’ (Gina, Mazz and Emma) then took to the stage and gave a stunning performance. We would like to give Woman a big thank you as they have supported the Foundation for many years, they also recorded ‘I’m a Woman’ which is currently on iTunes where all proceeds of the download go to the Foundation.
Next, it was the turn of Jim Cregan who for the evening had put together a remarkable band ‘The Best of British’, and he introduced each band member individually. Jim who was with Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel for three years then went on to co-produce and co-write with Rod Stewart, and was his musical director for well over a decade.
Among the band members was non other than Kenny Jones on drums. Kenny was a founder member of The Small Faces. He was then drummer for The Who, his innovative drum style has inspired many a generation of drummers. Kenny has recorded with the likes of the Rolling Stones and Wings to name but a few.
The rest of the band members were Josh Phillips (organ/keys), Ben Mills (vocals/guitar), Sam Tanner (keys) and last but not least Pat Davey (bass). They played a crowd-pleasing set of great rock standards including ‘Maggie May’ and ‘Come Up And See Me’ (make me smile). Breathtaking to say the least.
We can safely say, between Gary Williams, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, ‘Woman’ and Jim Cregan’s ‘The Best of British’ Rock Musicians they brought the house down. The dance floor was always full, in fact there were quite a few encores.
Gloria and family would like to thank you all for supporting Caron’s special 10th Anniversary Celebration Dinner in such a generous and thoughtful way. We also would like to thank those who contributed so freely of their time for the event in a truly supportive way. The Dorchester Hotel’s management and staff for their professionalism and generosity. Lord Archer the best Auctioneer in Britain, Christopher Biggins – no event should be without him. Carons long time friends and colleagues – Philip Schofield, Janet Ellis, Mark Curry, Fiona Foster, Yasmin Pasha and Matt Baker. Also the performers – Gary Williams and his Band, ‘Woman’, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Jim Cregan with the ‘The Best of British’ Rock Musicians. The Technical Team – Delta Sound, Creative Techonology, TSL Lighting, Pro Stage, Sassy Films, Marc Doust at KallKwik Sevenoaks and Lou Robey D&L Media. And particularly all of those who have so kindly and generously donated auction prizes.
