A worthwhile charity event for everyone's diaries

Dame Shirley Bassey has donated her glamorous outfits to the UK children's charity Barnardo's for an auction next month, to be held at Café de Paris in central London on Friday 30th March. This is particularly relevant to any British gay readers because all the money raised from this event will go to support the work that Barnado's does with lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender young people in the UK. They're calling the event ‘Hey, Big Spenders’, after one of her famous songs!

When I got the e-mail from Barnado's last week asking me to promote this event on my blog, I was curious as to why they had decided to focus this event on the gay community. The e-mail reply I got from them yesterday had the following to say:

We decided we wanted to promote our work with LGBT young people as many people are not aware of the good work Barnardo’s does in this area.

As Dame Shirley has a large gay following, we thought this would be a good fit and when we run this past Dame Shirley, she endorsed with the following quote:

"The outfits and accessories I have donated to Barnardo’s hold some very special memories for me. I very much hope my fans will bid for them and raise money for the critical work Barnardo’s does with vulnerable young people in the gay community helping to protect them from abuse and discrimination. I am sure the ‘Hey, Big Spenders’ fundraising evening will be a huge success and I’m sorry I cannot be there in person. Please dig deep everyone!"

The event will be a champagne and canapé reception to auction her glamorous designer wear, complete with a performance, disco, celebrity host and club night until 3am. So book your tickets now!