Leicester Rotary Tea Party raises £2,600

The Rotary Club of Leicester recently hosted a Tea Party for 80 people at the Leicestershire County Cricket Club, which raised £2,600 for charity. 

Organised by Diana Esho and Tara Pankhania, the tea party raised funds for two fantastic causes, End Polio and the Ectodermal Dysplasia Society. The event was also used to recognise and celebrate International Women's Day. 

This year's theme for International Women's Day was #BreakTheBias, which the two guest speakers have achieved in many ways.

The key speakers were:

• Ms Mehmooda Duke MBE DL, High Sheriff of Leicestershire, former Chair of Leicestershire County Cricket Club, former president of the Leicestershire Law Society, and the founder of Moosa-Duke solicitors.
• Leicester Businesswoman of the Year 2015 and 2017, Mrs Leanne Bonner-Cooke MBE, who was initially an accountant before transitioning into IT and founding her own business. 

Both gave inspiring talks about their journeys to 'break the bias'. End Polio Now is Rotary's campaign to eradicate polio. And Rotary's Eric Hall explained that when Rotary and its partners launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988, there were 350,000 cases of polio in 125 countries every year. Today, polio cases have been reduced by 99.9 percent, with just two countries affected by wild poliovirus. As a result, to date, Rotary has helped prevent 18 million people worldwide from being paralysed from polio.

In addition, the Rotary Club President Scott Gallacher gave an emotional speech about how he discovered his children were affected by Ectodermal Dysplasia. And why he became involved as a trustee of the Ectodermal Dysplasia Society.

The Ectodermal Dysplasia Society is a charity dedicated to improving the health and well-being of people whose lives are affected by Ectodermal Dysplasia (ED). 

Given its success as a fundraiser and as a great social event, the Rotary Club of Leicester plans to hold another Tea Party next year. Rotary Club of Leicester President, Scott Gallacher, said: 

“I'd like to thank Diana and Tara for organising a fantastic event and helping us raise a significant amount of money for two fabulous causes”