THIS year’s Swindon Charity Ball is expected to raise over £100,000 for charity.

That will make it the highest total in the event’s 29-year history.

Every penny of the money donated to this year’s ball will go to the Brighter Futures Radiotherapy Appeal.

Rob Gillespie of Swindon Rotary Club was delighted with the total.

He said: “The ball’s single fundraising cause is the Brighter Futures Radiotherapy Appeal, which is now very close to achieving its target of £2.9 million.

“The money raised through incredible local generosity, the participation of Rotary clubs within and near to Swindon, together with a fantastic range of sponsors and donations, will hopefully further push the appeal on the way to success.”

This year’s event was a Bollywood-themed spectacular, organised as always by the Rotary Club of Swindon, the Marriott, and the Swindon Advertiser.

The evening featured a champagne reception, gala dinner, Bollywood Nights-themed entertainment, a diamond draw, a silent auction, a main auction, a live band and a raffle.

The Swindon Rotary Club had hoped to raise £29,000 from business donations for this year’s black-tie event.

The Adver got the ball rolling by donating the first £500.

The night itself, hosted at the Swindon Marriott in March, raised an impressive £45,000.

The Rotary International’s Global Grant scheme will double that amount by match-funding it.

The final total raised for Brighter Futures by the 2018 Charity Ball will be announced later in the year.

Rob added: "It exceeded our expectations, we're delighted that it was such a success.

"This shows how generous the people and businesses n Swindon and the surrounding districts are.

"That's one of the best things about this area, it's a joy to be able to be able to celebrate this.

"Hopefully this will give Brighter Futures a helping hand of some substance on the way to reaching their goal.

"An event like this takes quite a lot of work to organise and we're all volunteers, so we're already planning next year's ball.

"We're very lucky to have such an energetic committee who will come up with a new theme that we hope will engage everyone just as much as this year's theme did."

The Brighter Futures Radiotherapy Appeal has been an immense collaborative effort which hundreds of people across Swindon have been supporting for years.

Its goal is to fundraise enough to pay for a new radiotherapy unit at Great Western Hospital.

At the moment, Swindonians have to travel to Oxford for any radiotherapy treatments they need.

This long journey adds an unnecessary extra toll to cancer patients’ lives.

A new radiotherapy unit would eliminate that extra stress and provide such treatments for patients somewhere that’s much closer to home.