Entry 646 - Stonewall summer party

I went to the Stonewall summer party tonight at The Roof Gardens in Kensington. (Top Right) Chris Dye, Paul Hart, me and Bhav. Chris happens to be one of my brother's best friends so it was good to see him again that night, the other two I met from Twitter, so it was kind of a tweet up too :-). (Top Left) I met a really REALLY nice lady called Jean at the event. We sat and ate the scrumptious food together :-). (Bottom Right) We were stood in the queue for the barbecue (new person on right is Neil Baker) and Gok Wan happened to walk past, we had to have a photo obviously. (Bottom left) Dr Christian was hosting the event, so another photo had to be taken. Don't you think that Christian and I look quite nice together?

On a more serious note:

Over 400 people attended Stonewall's annual Summer Party on Friday 22 June at the Roof Gardens in Kensington. The event, supported by Société Générale, g3, Out in the City and Out News, raised over £51,000 for Stonewall's Education for All campaign, which tackles homophobic bullying in schools and makes sure they support children from all kinds of families.

Dr Christian Jessen, who hosted the evening, praised Stonewall in an emotional speech about the effects of homophobic bullying. 'Over the years my admiration and respect for Stonewall and the work they do has gone nuclear,' he said. 'Their campaign to fight homophobic bullying in schools strikes a chord with me. It's shocking that homophobia is endemic in British schools - I find that extremely embarrassing. The work Stonewall do really does make a difference. It will help stamp it out.'

Other guests included Beverley Knight, Russell Tovey, Julian Clary, Jane Hill and Gok Wan. After a raffle, drawn by Vincent Francois, Chair of Société Générale's gay staff network, the Roof Gardens opened to the public for a gay-themed club night, Summer Party on the Roof, which included a spectacular fireworks display. The Roof Gardens kindly donated some of the proceeds from Summer Party on the Roof to Stonewall.

Catherine Bosworth, Stonewall Director of Fundraising, said: 'Thanks to our supporters at Société Générale every penny raised on Friday will help us make a real difference to thousands of lesbian, gay and bisexual young people around Britain. This was our biggest ever Summer Party - and yet again, we're overwhelmed by our individual supporters' generosity.'

Stonewall UK