Sarah Watson – s.r.watson@pgr.reading.ac.uk
Thea Stevens – thea.stevens@pgr.reading.ac.uk
Isabelle Gorst – i.r.gorst@pgr.reading.ac.uk
Another year, another Met Ball!
This year’s ball was held on Thursday 6th June in the Meadow Suite, which had been transformed into a fin-tastic underwater haven thanks to a collection of kids party balloons and Laura’s delightful dolphin collection (rumour has it she has been collecting these for 18 years specifically for Met Ball 2024).
The Met Ball is a yearly event, organised to raise money for the Reading San Francisco Libre Association. After months of emails, forms and ticket sales, the day had finally come. The evening started off with a delicious 3 course meal, followed by the raffle and auction and finished on the dancefloor. We were delighted to be joined by Paul Starkey who provided an introduction to the Reading San Francisco Libre Association as well as the information boards and leaflets. The Reading San Francisco Libre Association helps to support the people, development and environment of San Francisco Libre, Nicaragua, with many projects being set up, including a recent main roads and bridges project which aims to improve connections between San Francisco Libre and other regions.
After introducing the charity, Paul kindly kicked off the raffle which had a suspicious amount of tickets with high numbers. Despite this, the raffle and auction were a huge success (once Sarah and Thea had figured out how to do the calling), with a fantastic sea-lection of prizes. From Mr Met mugs and tea hampers to hotel stays and indoor sky–diving, the prizes up for grabs were certainly a hit! None more than the sought after Brain Hoskins signed photo, which seemed to cause a splash amongst the HHH crowd. Overall, we raised £1003 for the charity!
Following this excitement, there were some waves made on the dance floor, with a special rendition of Islands in the Stream which will never be forgotten, as well as a reminder of how much we all love Wendy. We weren’t the only ones having fun though, as it seemed that most of the photos from the Met Ball were of the seal and lobster balloons who appeared to have a photoshoot around the Meadow Suite (these gen-Z influencers can’t get enough of the camera these days).
Some people’s memories may be more hazy than others, but we have a very specific memory of Ankit and Melissa agreeing to organise Met Ball 2025…
Thanks to everyone who attended and donated prizes to the raffle and auction. We really enjoyed organising it and we were over-whale-med by your presence! Some final words of wisdome from us to the future organisers? Get Brian Hoskins to sign anything and add it to the auction.
The Social Metwork 