MEMBERS of the Weymouth and Portland Chamber of Commerce raised more than £2,000 for the organisation’s nominated charity at a glitzy event.

More than 100 chamber members gathered at the Pennsylvania Castle, Portland, at the start of October for the annual Hollywood Ball, raising the money for the Headway Charity.

Headway is a UK charity that works to improve life after brain injury.

Through a range of frontline services, run from Nottingham and via a network of more than 100 groups and branches across the UK, it provides support, services and information to brain injury survivors, their families and carers, as well as to professionals in the health and legal fields.

The chamber, which is the voice of businesses in the borough, boasts around 130 members who descended on the castle for the fundraising ball, with an auction and a raffle held to raise much needed funds.

Michelle Hind, president of the chamber, said: “The Headway charity is dear to my heart as my niece was involved in a serious accident a couple years ago and we did not expect her to survive, but she has nearly made a full recovery and I could not recommend Headway more to support survivors and their families.

“As president I would like to thank our member Fiona Penny of Sunflowers who has organised the spectacular event, from designing the tickets, decorating the room, organising the raffle and auction and selecting the food and entertainment – we simply could not have done it without her."

Karen and Alan Bozeat, on behalf of Headway Dorset, attended the ball as guests of the president and thanked everyone present for their support. Karen said: “I would like to thank on behalf of Headway Dorset all of the people involved in the Chamber Hollywood Charity Ball. “We personally thoroughly enjoyed the event and met some wonderful people.

"Acquired Brain Injury is not easy to raise funds for, although there are more than two million people living today with some form of injury acquired during their lifetime. Awareness of ABI’s and how they not only affect the injured, but also families and friends, is little understood and support is not always easy to find.”