First year BTEC Performing Arts students Jade Hales and Amber Emberson organised a fantastic casino night raising over £900 for a struggling social club for adults with learning difficulties.

Jade, 17 from Grays and Amber, 17 from Wickford organised an over 18s casino themed charity evening on Saturday 3rd October. The girls sold over 90 tickets and the evening basically involved guests buying an envelope of “monopoly money” for £5 and playing as you would in a ‘real’ casino. The girls, with help from friends and family dressed up the Franklin Way Scout Hall in Wickford as a Casino with themed decorations, roulette tables topped off with helpers dressed up as croupiers.

Jade said: “It only took a few weeks to organise and it was real good fun, I can’t wait to do something similar again.”

Amber added: “The evening was great, the atmosphere was perfect and everyone enjoyed themselves. We couldn’t believe that we had raised so much, we were hoping to raise around £400 but we did even better. The money will help take the members on a boat trip on the Thames, which they’ve always wanted to do.”

Mark Vinall, Principal of Palmer’s College said: “Both Jade and Amber are an exceptional credit to the College, the community and themselves. Raising almost £1000 is a fantastic achievement - congratulations girls."

The chairperson of Neave Social Club in Harold Hill, Romford wrote a letter last week to the Principal expressing her gratitude and thanks for both Jade and Amber’s efforts and hard work. Mrs Grace Woods said, “Both students will be a great asset not only to the College but also to the community.

The girls also held a raffle on the evening with the help of local businesses who they wrote to individually. Langdon Hills Golf Club, Curves Health Club and Summer Hill Nurseries all donated fantastic raffle prizes.

The evening also included a BBQ which was dampened by the rain but that didn’t stop the guests having a wonderful evening.

Both Jade and Amber are currently in their second year at Palmer’s College and are hoping to go onto university to study Performing Arts/Dance.

The reason why this social club was chosen is because Amber’s aunty is a member of the club and suffers from a mental disability. Amber was aware of the social club struggling for donations and wanted to help raise money for the club.