CHILDREN’S charity, The Children’s Adventure Farm Trust, was joined by 350 guests at its 13th Annual Ladies Lunch event on June 14 at The Mere Golf Resort & Spa.

An amazing £46,000 was raised at this year’s James Bond themed event, which will help the charity to provide holidays for terminally ill, disabled and disadvantaged children from all over our region.

Guests were greeted by themed stilt walkers from Gravity Live and delicious treats from Ice Cream Dub who served ice cream from their retro VW camper.

A drinks reception was followed by a spot of shopping and pampering organised by CAFT volunteer Carol Robinson – including nail treatments from Mere’s own spa and the Wish Upon A Sparkle who added that little extra bit of sparkle to the ladies for donations to the charity.

A huge range of stalls offered everything from perfume, jewellery and handbags through to clothing, beauty products and hats.

CAFT staff were joined by 11 volunteers from Lloyds Banking Group. Clarins at Rackhams in Altrincham kindly supplied table gifts for the ladies, and each went away with a fantastic goodie bag full of treats donated by the charity’s generous supporters including L’Oreal and Andrew Collier Photography. Pulse of Perfumery from Knutsford provided perfume samples for all guests as well as giving away three beautiful bottles of perfume to lucky winners of their spot prize game.

Host Paul Sleem kept the ladies entertained throughout the day but it was the men of CAFT that stole the show. The Adventure Farm Trustees and Staff surprised the ladies by dressing as Bonds across the ages, but the surprises didn’t end there as they were joined on stage by Patrick McBride – the Milk Tray Man.

Three of the charity’s Patrons joined them on the day – Dame Sarah Storey, Jennifer James and Suzan Holder – all of whom presented prizes to lucky winners. The list of high profile guests didn’t end there as actors Sally Carman and Faye McKeever joined the fun along with presenter Jenny Powell.

The event’s organiser, Pippa Watton, said: “This was an amazing event which raised around £6,000 more than last year!

"Our ladies never let us down when it comes to fundraising and fun, there was a real party atmosphere from beginning to end! We’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of our guests and really can’t thank them enough. There are so many people who worked very hard to make the event a success that I couldn’t possible mention all of them, but without their support this event simply wouldn’t have been possible.”