With thanks...
We’d like to give our thanks to everyone who helped make our awards extra special
Our celebrities
Top row, from left Celebrity Mum of the Year Nell McAndrew, Arlene Phillips, host Fiona Phillips, Annabel Giles, Jimmy Osmond (currently appearing as Billy Flynn in Chicago The Musical on tour in the UK. For tickets see www.chicagothemusical.com), Lemar, Jo Wood, Mark Read, Todd Carty with his mum Maggie
Bottom row, from left Angela Wynter, Ingrid Tarrant, Cheryl Fergison, Martin Roberts, The Saturdays
Number 10
The Prime Minister’s wife, Sarah Brown, hosted a special breakfast reception for our winning mums at No 10 Downing Street. Sarah is patron of our Mum of the Year awards and devotes much of her
time to charity work. She founded PiggyBankKids, which raises money for children’s charities and is patron of
several charities including the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood.
The prize
Our lucky mums each won a luxury family cruise courtesy of P&O Cruises, with a whole host of
week-long cruises to choose from.
Our overall winner, Iris Billing, won a two-week cruise and, as we write, is hoping to book a trip to Jamaica to fulfil
a lifelong ambition.
Goody bags
Many thanks to the following for contributing to our goody bags: Divine Chocolate, Faustino Rioja, Feet Fairies, Kenneth Turner, Polaroid, Zen, Girls Night In DVDs from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment,
Potter & Moore, Links of London and Georg Jensen, Moet & Chandon
Our younger guests were treated to some extra special goodies: Little Princess toys from Born To Play based on her TV series on Five's Milkshake! (www.littleprincesskingdom.com), Hello Everybody!
In The Night Garden DVD boxset (£29·99) donated by
BBC Worldwide, plus Tombliboo mini plush (£4·99)
by Hasbro
Special thanks
The staff and management at the Waldorf Hilton Hotel, London.
Reaching out
Award-winning creative agency Creative Cherry will be setting up a brand-new website for Tanya's Courage, the charity launched by our Overall Winner Iris Billing. Worth over £2,000, the design will make it easier for people to donate money online, helping to raise even more cash for this fantastic cause.
For Cherry's full range of services, visit www.creativecherry.com or call
0845 094 1480.
Weighing in
Porter Nash Medical, a division of Henry Schein UK, kindly donated baby weighing scales worth £250 to the antenatal clinic set up by our Charitable Mum of the Year, Sheryl Greentree. For information visit www.porternash.co.uk. Tesco clothing also donated 8,100 boy, girl and unisex babygrows to the value of £10,000 and Tesco health and beauty has donated 100 sets of baby blankets and sheets for the clinic too.
Beating bullies
The Anton Group agreed to print 10,000 copies (5,000 of each of the two booklets) used as supporting material to the fantastic charity Bulliesout set up by our Achieving Mum of the Year, Linda James.
Touch of luxury
Organiser of mobile pamper parties 1 Look Pamper has arranged for our Positive Mum of the Year, Sarah Hill, and the mums in her support group to enjoy a day of beauty treatments and relaxation. For more information on 1 Look Pamper’s treatments, please visit www.1lookpamper.com or call
0844 561 7948.
Magic world
Merlin’s Magic Wand donated 200 free tickets to a Merlin attraction for Community Mum, Dorothy Higgins, plus a trip for her own family.
School support
The Dame Vera Lynn School, in West Sussex, is supported by our Inspirational Mum of the Year, Vali Bugden. Tesco donated a flatscreen TV and a Wii games console for the school to use.
A little extra
Unilever donated spa pamper packs filled with Dove goodies including Summer Glow Body Lotion and Beauty Body Moisturiser so the mums in Sarah’s group can pamper themselves at home.
Home movies
The Shooting Stars Children’s Hospice in north London means a lot to our Supportive Mum of the Year, Mridula Jain and her son, Arvind. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures donated a vast selection of DVDs to the hospice.
Patron power
Many thanks also to Crystal Palace Football Club, whose manager Neil Warnock (right) has agreed to act as a patron of the charity Tanya’s Courage, which was set up by Overall winner Iris Billing.