Comments, Photo's & Video's
For all the information regarding the 2009
Hearts Of Gold
Linedance Ball, follow the link below to the new website.
http://www.freewebs.com/heartsofgoldball/
Words from the head of the Ball committee Margaret Emery
I am so proud to have been the organizer of such a great event as the Heart & Sole Ball and I feel extremely humbled and proud to have had the expertise, co-operation, skills and friendship of such a wonderful organizing committee.
The amount of time and effort everyone put into it was rewarded by the event being a professional and successful evening.
The feedback on the night was so positive and I thank everyone who came up to me and congratulated and thanked me during the night, I was so overwhelmed.
Everyone asked will it be run again next year and I am pleased to say that if you want it I am more than happy to do it.
In fact I have already had the first 100 tickets sold. The issues we had with the food I apologise for and they will be taken up with the venue operators this week but all in all for our first ball it was a great success.
Our accountant at the moment is sorting through the money, costs etc and as soon as we have a final tally it will be posted on the website.
Once again I thank everyone who participated and especially thank the Ball Committee for their commitment and dedication and also the many laughs we had over breakfast and lunch meetings which I will miss.
Line Dancers just have the most giving hearts and I am always proud to include myself as one.
With Love
Margaret Emery
The Board and Staff at Ronald McDonald House Westmead congratulate the Heart and Sole Ball Committee for the wonderful effort and volunteer hours involved in the production of such a professional event.
The night was a fantastic show of red and black and the enthusiasm of the dancers from around Australia and New Zealand was a testimony to their effort.
Dancers from all Groups mingled and had a great night. A lot of effort went into the table decorations and the Balloons all made for a spectacle that we hope will grow for next year.
We thank you for supporting Ronald Mc Donald House Westmead and the funds raised in total was $22,000. This money is vital to assist our families while their children are being treated at the Children’s Hospital Westmead.
Thank you from all the families who stay at our House
Adrienne Pearson General Manager
The Inaugural NSW Heart & Sole Line Dance Ball 2008
Saturday 26th April 2008 saw the successful culmination of 8 months of hard work by a committee of 11 linedancers and instructors. The inaugural NSW Heart and Sole Line Dance Ball, a fund raising event for Ronald McDonald House Westmead, was held at the State Sports Centre, Homebush Bay, Sydney. The theme for the evening was Black and Red and everyone participated with a resultant "sea of black and red".
Dancing began at 5.00pm and finished at 12 midnight. Over that 7 hours, dancers enjoyed 94 mainstream dances, 49 of which had an associated easy intermediate floor split. This ensured that the majority of the 900 line dancers in attendance filled the floor throughout the evening.
Amber Lawrence, Australia country music artist, opened the evening with a rendition of three songs, two of which already have dances choreographed to them. Half way through the evening, another Australian country music artist, Victoria McGee, also sang three songs, one of which has a dance choreographed to it. Three young dancers from Tamworth demonstrated a well rehearsed competition routine, and talented dancers from the Line Dance group Hotfoot presented an entertaining routine for our viewing pleasure. All of these entertainers provided their services for free.
Dancers travelled great distances to join us for this historic event in NSW line dancing. They travelled from as far away as Tasmania, Queensland, Victoria and New Zealand to swell the ranks of an excited crowd from all over NSW.
Sponsors gave generously to provide the lucky door and raffle prizes, which included 4 separate holidays, wine, dance shoes, jewellry and miscellaneous gifts.
Yet another sponsor provided an unbelievable array of balloon decorations absolutely free, all of which were enhanced by the imaginative and creative decorating skills of the dancers themselves as they vied for the Best Decorated Table prize, $300.00 worth of club shirts embroidered with the winning clubs logo.
In addition to the Raffle and Lucky Door prizes, there were 20 items of varying size and worth up for "Blind Auction", all of which were won during the evening.
Due to the generosity of the State Sports Centre, the sponsors, the Committee members, the attending Line Dancers and even those who were unable to attend, yet bought Raffle tickets, together we raised an unbelievable $22,000 for Ronald McDonald House Westmead.
Although there were a few hiccoughs with the catering, on the whole the event ran like clockwork. Many thanks to Margaret Emery, a line dancer who works for Ronald McDonald House Westmead, whose dream I think came true on Saturday night. She sowed the seed of an idea to a group of line dance instructors who assisted her to organise this worthwhile event. Those instructors became the Committee. They consisted of Linda Burgess from One Liners, Lyn and Ian Booth from City Slickers, Noel Brady from Strictly Linedance, Kelvin Dale from Red Hot & Country, Kate & Mark Simpkin from Southern Cross Line Dance, Lindsay Ryan from Northern Beaches Line Dance, and Linda Wolfe and myself from Westlakes in Newcastle.
We were very ably joined on the evening as Leaders of each bracket by the following Line Dance Instructors: Julie & Josh Talbot from Bootscooters International, Gary Parker from Modern Country, Tracie Lee from Dance Fever, Sandy Kerrigan from Lassoo Line Dancing, Gordon Elliott, Tom Glover from Illawarra Bootscooters, Maria & Kevin Smith from Kickin' Country Line Dancers, Peter Fry from Country Addictions, Rosalie Mackay from In Line Boots, Chris Watson from Dare 2 Dance, Michelle Palmer, Jenny Hughes and Robert Fletcher from Northern Riders, Sam Dixon from Red Hot & Country, Serin & Pat Wilcox from Strictly Linedance and Anita Agafonoff from Sugar Valley Line Dancers, Stephen Paterson from Melbourne, Simon Ward, and Fred Knopp.
With the success of the 2008 Ball, plans will soon be underway for the 2009 event. Keep an eye on the website for details.
Regards
Robyn Groot
Committee Member.
Check out some photos of the night & what a great time everyone had at the Heart & Sole Line Dance Ball on the
Photo Gallery page on this site.
Also check out some videos of the night & all the fun
on the Video page on this site.
