Love clothes at the Village Hotel (Urban Resorts) hits the headlines!

Among the mass of volunteers were students from three different colleges in Nottingham, all working together to help us make the evening a success.

Chilwell School Sixth Form students helped out in all areas behind the scenes and selling clothes up front. Fashion students from Vision West Notts College came along to help out too, particularly offering their expert style/colour and fashion advice to anyone who wanted it. We also had a wonderful team of students and teachers from Central College who provided hairstyling and make-up for our beautiful models. In addition to the students we had help from Tom and Emma who are stylists at Michael Stark Hair & Beauty and an army of wonderful helpers from Christian Centre Nottingham which included the fabulous compares for the evening, Pat Hopewell and Malcolm W Baxter!

The models came from a wide range of backgrounds, some with prior experience and many without – they all did an incredible job on the catwalk, each displaying unique beauty and individuality. Local mums, students, children, former models and current beauty queens all graced us with their presence on the catwalk and brought happiness to those watching. Their outfits were all hand-picked garments from the #LOVECLOTHES collection, donated to Operation Orphan for this very purpose. These were on sale after the show at a fraction of the usual price – making sure that people attending had the opportunity to grab a bargain and help the charity at the SAME TIME.

Speaking of the catwalk – I have to mention MC Productions who provided the staging, sound and lighting for us at a FRACTION of their usual price as their way of helping us to put on a great event. These guys were amazing and I am personally so very thankful.

During the evening there was a #swapshop on offer where people had the chance to swap things from their own wardrobe for something different – FOR FREE! This worked out really well and Gemma Pettifor (who ran this section on the evening) estimated more than 70 ladies took part!

During the interval there was a hair demonstration on stage from Tom and Emma and some styling tips available from the students.

The entire evening was a success. Not only from a fundraising point of view (we raised around £1500) – but also as an opportunity for Camilla and Rebecca (Miss Sweden and Miss Nottingham) to bag us a photo on the FRONT PAGE of the Nottingham Post. This means that many people in and around Nottingham will have read about the work of operation orphan for the first time – this makes me happy.

The more people who hear about what we are on with and get behind us, the more orphans and vulnerable children we are able to support... so it's a huge success as far as I'm concerned.

None of this would have been possible without the support of the Village hotel, Chilwell. Their generosity to us as a charity and our on-going partnership is what makes our events possible and I would like to thank them personally and publicly for their support.

Thanks to everyone who took part and to everyone who came – you all played your part in making such a successful evening. I hope to repeat this in Nottingham at the same sort of time next year, hopefully good news travels fast and we will have even more people joining us to change lives for a brighter future.

Cyrilyn