Habb ball raises more than £10,000

Celebrity guests including Lesley Joseph, Cleo Rocos and A Place in the Sun's Amanda Lamb, along with a who's who of the hairdressing industry helped to raise over £10,000 for the Hair and Beauty Benevolent at the annual HABB Ball. The event, the industry's first night of glamour of the year, marked the beginning of Racoon International's Eva Proudman's role as president of hairdressing's own charity. She began by explaining how she herself had turned to an industry charity in her own hour of need after a car crash meant that her spine had to be fused. Former president Jayne Lewis-Orr also delivered a reminder of the importance of the charity, by sharing the heart warming tale of Ruby, who lost her hairdresser mother Helen to breast cancer when she was just 11. HABB is paying for a school trip to New York and helping her to enjoy the same experiences as her classmates. There were Presidents Awards for Jayne, for her work as charity president for the last three years, and Image International and Chambers Hair Design for their fundraising efforts in the past 12 months. On the evening, huge amounts of much-needed funds were raised through a raffle, with amazing prizes including vouchers to spend in Harley Street, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols; an auction of money-can't-buy merchandise; and a silent auction that featured a Ben De Lisi dress and hairdryers designed by top hairdressers and made by Wahl. But the biggest draw was a replica FA Cup, as won by Chelsea in 2007, which was bought be Anthony Mascolo for a whopping £2,500. While raising money and awareness for HABB was the focus of the evening, there was still plenty of fun to be had. Richard Ward, Marc Antoni, Akin Konizi and hob creative, Tim Hartley, Errol Douglas, Johnny Engstrom Artistic Director of Guy Kremer, Andrew Barton and the Saks Art Team, Effi Davies at Toni & Guy, Seanhanna Artistic Team and Sassoon all wowed the guests with hair shows inspired by the theme 'Fashioning the Olympics'. And disco diva Kym Mazelle, belted out her anthems 'Young Hearts Run Free' and 'Love Me the Right Way' before the industry's own DJ, Desmond Murray took to the decks for a party. Pictures of the HABB Ball >>