‘So it finally arrived…. the night we’d all been waiting for - the Get A-Head ‘Step Into Christmas Ball’! Get A-Head, one of our very first clients, are a charity who work to improve the lives of patients suffering from head and neck disease. Their ball is an exciting fundraiser for this cause, which takes place every year.

Clad in our most glamorous outfits, team MR made their way to the Birmingham Hilton Metropole, where we were met with glasses of Prosecco (very gladly received). We soon found each other in the bustling hotel lobby, where we had a quick catch up, before being ushered through to the main event room.

Every table was beautifully decorated with a stunning candlelit centrepiece. We even received complimentary gifts, including our very own Get A-Head themed bauble and snow globe, in addition to party poppers and ‘rocket balloons’, which were soon hilariously flying all over the room and landing in some very random places! During this time, the audience were also invited to write a song on a piece of paper and place it in a mysterious black box on the centre of the stage.

The evening kicked off with a lively introduction from host and magician Ben Hanlin. Ben demonstrated his fascinating ‘mind-reading’ trick. This involved inviting a volunteer to select a song from the aforementioned black box on the front of the stage. Without seeing the piece of paper, Ben said he could guess the song the volunteer had chosen. Sure enough, Ben then invited the audience to clap out the rhythm to ‘We Will Rock You’ by Queen, while the volunteer looked on, impressed! 

Following some inspirational words from the charity’s wonderful Chairman, Tom Bromwich, about the invaluable work of Get A-Head, Gary Priestley and his band got us all into the festive spirit with some classic Christmas numbers while we dined. Our team enjoyed a fabulous three course meal, in-between pulling crackers, reading out Christmas jokes and working our way through several buckets of Peroni and Prosecco. 

The evening also included some very touching videos of patients, talking about how much Get A-Head has supported both themselves and their families throughout their illness; a lovely reminder of the amazing work Get A-Head do to help patients with head and neck disease. 

After our meal, we were very excited to see none other than the headliner Kerry Godliman (comedian and co-star in Ricky Gervais’ Netflix show ‘Afterlife’) walk right past our table and onto the stage! She had us all in stitches with some very relatable anecdotes and soon enough, the whole room was laughing along. Following a big round of applause for Kerry, team MR were feeling merry and ready to hit the dance floor: cue Coyote Party Band!

Coyote Party Band were fantastic and had us dancing into the small hours. They played some very up-beat covers including Queen, Florence and the Machine and lots more of our favourites! Everyone really got into the groove and ‘dance-offs’ ensued, where team MR was very well represented by Olivia. A few shots of tequila later, we decided it was time to head back to our hotel rooms. After all, we were the last ones on the dance floor when the night ended (and very proud of it, too!).

All round, a wonderfully fun and enjoyable evening, which we’ll always remember (although some parts are a little tequila-hazy). Bring on next year!