September 1st was a very special night in the eyes of Cut The Cap as we were lucky enough to be invited by our good friends at the Playboy Club to join their table at Mo Farah’s annual fundraising ball known as ‘A Night of Champions’. The Mo Farah Foundation has been setup by Mo Farah and his wife Tania to help save lives and support people affected by the worst drought to hit the Horn of Africa region in over 60 years.
Held in London’s largest Ball room at the The Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane it was a truly star studded affair with some of the most prominent names in sport joining Mo such as Sir Steve Redgrave, Usain Bolt, Steve Cram, Colin Jackson, Kolo Toure, Karen Pickering, Ugo Monye as well as TV presenting legend Phillip Scofield and Turner Prize Winner Mark Wallinger.
After a few glasses of bubbly at the Playboy Club we made the short walk up Park Lane where the evening kicked off with a champagne reception. We mingled with the high-society and met our date for the night, Louise Redknapp…
This was followed by an amazing 3 course dinner including petits four (small desserts!) whilst being entertained between courses with live music from The Feeling’s front man Dan Gillespie-Sells, The X-Factor’s Amelia Lily and a special performance from 15 year old Maisie Mae, who was performing her new single The Plight of which the proceeds are going to The Mo Farah Foundation.
On each of the tables was a tablet that allowed everyone the chance to bid in the silent auctions during the evening. The auction offered guests the chance to lay their hands on an array of fabulous ‘money can’t buy items’ including Usain Bolt’s framed running spikes, signed sporting shirts from the world of sport including Sir Chris Hoy’s cycling top and Usain Bolt’s running vest, custom gold cufflinks from Michael Frank of Hatton Gardens, x10 VIP tickets to see England v South Africa at Twickenham, 4 Nights in Kenya and a day training session with the man himself Mo Farrah.
After the meal the live auction started and it got off to a great start with the Michael Frank cufflinks going for 3 times the reserve value to fetching a huge £6,000! The from there the bids flew in with the money raised on the evening quickly reaching £100,000. Then things went a little ‘off piste’ as Mr Bolt decided to take over the auction to see if he could help break the record for the most amount of money paid for a pair of his running spikes – and it worked! After we thought we’d accidentally bid £27,000 for them (heart in mouth moment) the final bid went to a gentleman behind us for £39,000!! Get that man a cigar!
Through the night we spread our wings and made sure that the up coming ‘Cut The Cap meets… series’ is fully loaded with the best personalities in town. We were lucky enough to have introductions with the most enthusiastic man in sport, Colin Jackson, the fastest man in the world Usain Bolt, Olympic legend Sir Steve Redgrave and TV supremo Phillip Schofield!
The evening continued with the official after party back at the Playboy Club. The cocktails were flowing (we were particularly found of the Spicy-55 and Patron coffees shots on offer) as the guests partied into the earlier hours. Then it was time to get our ride home – it’s was just a case of picking a car from the car park outside… decisions decisions!
