Prestigious event nets Steps £77,200

A ‘CORPORATE dinner with a difference’ was hosted by the Leicester Tigers to help raise funds for Steps Conductive Education Centre and a staggering £77,200 was the result!

Steps, a centre in Shepshed that provides a free service for children from across the East Midlands who have conditions such as cerebral palsy and Down’s syndrome, hold this prestigious event each year. Called ‘ A Question Of Brains’, the event combines fine dining with a fun, brain-teasing quiz night.

There was a Grand Raffle with amazing prizes including two bottles of House of Commons wine donated by Loughborough MP Nicky Morgan and an auction with some stunning lots such as a diamond necklace courtesy of Goldsmiths and a holiday for four in Austria.

A mega prize-every-time tombola is always popular and with 700 donated prizes, this also raised a considerable amount for Steps.

A highlight of the evening was a cabaret performance by Belle Voci, billed as ‘a singing duo extraordinaire’ who were runners up in the TV programme, ‘The Voice’.

Leicester Tigers stars, Geordan Murphy and Matt Poole were auctioneers and Anne Davies from the BBC East Midlands Today programme was the host.

Rosemary Conley, cofounder and patron of Steps, now in its 25th year, pronounced the evening a major success.

She said: “Since 2012, A Question of Brains has raised an amazing £520,000 for Steps. Everything is donated and services are provided free of charge by our sponsors who are Charles Street Building Group, Fischer Future Heat, Goldsmiths Jewellers, Heidi Kjeldsen Jewellery, Kangaroo Marketing and Design, Leicester College, Leicester Tigers, Lionel Heap Photography, Next, Nick Janes Vocals and Guitar and Rosemary Conley Enterprises.

“Every single penny raised goes towards the £250,000 that we need to find every year to provide a free service for our children and their families. I should like to thank everyone who has contributed to making the evening such a success.”

If anyone would like to book a table or donate a prize for next year’s Question of Brains, please go to the website at www.aquestionofbrains.org

■ Quiz winners and Steps parents, Lynette and Stephen Hilton (centre) pictured with Geordan Murphy of Leicester Tigers,, Anne Davies of BBC East Midlands Today and Matt Poole of Leicester Tigers. Photo by Lionel Heaps.

■ The cabaret: Belle Voci who were runners up in The Voice. Photo by Lionel Heaps.

■ Rosemary Conley, Patron of Steps Conductive Education Centre. Photo by Lionel Heaps.