"Ascotasia" - May 1998

A spectacular Ball - "Ascotasia" - at the Grand Hyatt Hotel Hong Kong on 1 May 1999 saw over $1.2 million raised to LaunchCamp Quality in Hong Kong.

The Rotary Club of Kowloon North and the Horse Racing Community combined on a night when Royal Ascot came to Hong Kong, a great time was had by all and there were some wonderfully generous gestures.

The mood was there from the start when guests were greeted in the hall by the Ball Committee of the Rotary Club of Kowloon North and their wives all decked out for Royal Ascot. Morning suits and top hats for the men, colourful outfits and eye-catching hats for the ladies set the tone in the beautifully decorated ante-room of the Grand Hyatt Ball Room.

"Jockeys" dressed in their racing silks and "outriders" in their hunting jackets formed a guard of honour as guests making their entrance passed through a huge horseshoe bedecked with colourful flowers. The night was full of activity with the scene set by the dancers from the Academy for Performing Arts who performed a lively samba number soon after guests were seated.

Highlights included the running of the Camp Quality Plate and the Camp Quality Cup, followed by an auction ofracing memorabilia which saw $100,000 paid for an exquisite racing painting by well known local artist Circle Lo

It was a night to savour with emotions running high and, as Vera Entwhistle put it, not an evening on which to wear mascara! Camp Quality was now a viable concern in Hong Kong and the local children suffering from cancer would be the beneficiaries.

Our Thanks to everyone involved for making "Ascotasia" an enormous success