The Variety Club Awards
Anna-Louise was honoured to be invited to represent The Pollyanna Pickering Foundation at The Variety Club Awards.
The fundraising and awards event honours those who have made outstanding contributions to theatre, music, television, fashion and philanthropy in the last year.
The Awards have been on hiatus since 2009, but with 2022 marking the BBC’s 100th year in operation, Variety relaunched the event to celebrate the broadcaster’s place at the heart of UK culture, as well as its long, rich association with the charity.
Pollyanna was a regular guest at the awards . Anna-Louise was delighted to be asked to continue to represent the Foundation at the glittering and star-studded ceremony at London’s Hilton Hotel on Park Lane, hosted by Amanda Holden. Among the famous faces in attendance were Spice Girl Mel C and TV personality Keith Lemon (both pictured below with Anna-Louise), while the evening’s entertainment was provided by singer Gary Barlow.
Amongst those that received a Silver Heart award for their remarkable achievements, were Britain’s Got Talent judge Simon Cowell as well as Strictly Come Dancing star Molly Rainford. Supermodel and activist Naomi Campbell (above right with Anna-Louise) received an award in recognition of her outstanding contribution to fashion and for her role in bringing positive change and inclusion on the catwalk and beyond.
There was a heart-warming change to this year’s awards to reflect this year’s historic royal events, with the inauguration of the ‘Duke of Edinburgh Variety Club Gold Heart Award’. Eight days before the late Queen Elizabeth II passed away, Buckingham Palace advised the club that Her Majesty was pleased the award was to be given in her husband’s memory. The Duke of Edinburgh was pivotal to the creation of Variety in 1949 and will be warmly remembered by all who knew and worked with him during his subsequent lifelong support of the charity. HRH Princess Beatrice was visibly moved while giving an emotional speech about her late grandfather before presenting the award to Katherine Jenkins (centre left).
Over the past 70 years, the organisation has given close to £1.6 billion in grants globally to help children who are disabled or disadvantaged, with hundreds of millions of pounds going to the 1.3 million disabled and 4 million disadvantaged children in the UK.
The organisation is also responsible for setting up their famous Sunshine Coaches which are specially adapted minibuses catering to schools and other non-profit organisations working with disabled and disadvantaged children.