SHINE turned 15 in style last Thursday, as we celebrated with the return of The SHINE Benefit Dinner at the spectacular venue of The Natural History Museum. The museum was transformed into a stunning education themed party, with guests arriving to dine and dance around Dippy the Dinosaur in the main Hintze Hall. They were welcomed in by Box 9 Drumline and the evening was opened by the incredible Hallé Children’s Choir.

The evening was about celebrating the achievements of the last 15 years, with the people who made them possible; our supporters, trustees, patrons, and project staff. More importantly, we were raising the funds to achieve our next ambitious goal: to double our reach to 200,000 children.

A big thank you to Nick Robinson!

Long standing patron of SHINE, former Political Editor for the BBC, and now presenter of Radio 4’s Today show, Nick Robinson did a fantastic job of hosting the evening. Nick focused on the important work that SHINE does, and thanks to his rallying for generous giving, we were able to raise a whopping £720,000 on the night.

Our Chairman, Cameron Ogden, displayed the important ideology and ethos of SHINE, and the awareness he shares with our other trustees of how important education is for opportunities.

And last but not least, our Let Teacher’s SHINE Winner and founder of Hegarty Maths, Colin Hegarty told us about the inspirational work that he’s been doing. As a primary school maths teacher, Colin uploaded some videos of maths tuition for students who were soon to sit their GCSE’s. As more and more students discovered the videos, Colin was given funding from SHINE to build his project its own website, which led him to win the Pearson Teaching Award and make it to the final of Virgin Media’s Pitch To Rich competition.

Our work through Junior

We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to show our supporters the difference they are making, thanks to Junior, a pupil from the East Manchester Academy. Junior agreed to make a film about the difference SHINE has made in his life, with his grades and attitude in school being a poor reflection of his potential before he started at our SHINE on Saturday programme. Thanks to the programme, Junior has had access to personalised support, and has been given a different perspective on education, helping him to see the potential in himself, improve his grades, and become a SHINE team leader! You can watch Junior’s film here.

Big prizes!

We had some fantastic prizes up for auction on the night, and thanks to the generosity of our patrons, we were able to do a live auction of three once in a life time experiences as part of our live auction! Nick Robinson, Sir Alex Ferguson, and Boris Becker all offered experiences with themselves as prizes, and bought in an amazing £240,000 from their items alone!

Our silent auction was also a roaring success, with particular enthusiasm for items such as; a Day in Paris at the European Championships with ITV; a PalmerSport racing experience to get the adrenaline pumping; Wembley box tickets for an FA cup semi-final; Strictly Come Dancing Tour tickets and meet and greet with the stars; and tickets for the X Factor live show.

We would like to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone who came to the dinner and generously donated towards our work. Thanks to you we’ll be able to reach even more children, who will turn your generosity into potential and opportunities for their futures.

If you’d like to give to SHINE, you can do so today on our donation page.

Photo credit: Jonny MP Photography