Oh, what a night! Yorkshire Children of Courage ceremony on course to raise £75k for charity

Final totals are still being calculated but £25,000 is expected to have been raised for the St James’s Place Charitable Foundation by an auction, raffle and other activities during last Friday’s ceremony, held at New Dock Hall in Leeds.

And event organisers at St James’s Place Wealth Management have pledged to match every pound that was raised on the night by donating two pounds of their own to the charitable foundation.

The foundation distributes funds to good causes across Yorkshire, with one of the biggest beneficiaries over the years being Huddersfield’s Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice.

Foundation committee member Stephen Mitchell said: “It was another fantastic evening recognising the achievements of some of Yorkshire’s finest children and teenagers, whilst at the same time raising funds for the St James’s Place Charitable Foundation.

“We have never had so many nominations and whilst there were only 10 individual awards, every one of the hundreds of nominees can consider themselves as winners.”

Young people receiving awards included Holly Marsden, from Morley, Finn Knaggs, from Guiseley, Lola Daley, from Normanton, and Joe Johnson, from Ossett.

The 700 or so guests at the ceremony included Leeds United legend Eddie Gray and Paralympic wheelchair athlete Hannah Cockroft.