An Evening For Amy at ITV Towers

Photography courtesy of Emily Davies

It may have seemed like any other Thursday afternoon in the ITV tower on Southbank on September 24 but for the few members of staff in the second floor bar there was a certain electricity in the air. The area was slowly being transformed with purple bunting and pink helium balloons as tables dotted around the room were loaded with nibbles and flourished with silver star confetti. However the biggest indicator of the occasion were the beautiful pictures on display of a very special young lady…

Preparations were taking place for an entertainment night to raise funds for the Amy May Trust, in which Amy’s colleagues and friends from ITV would come together to eat, drink and have a good laugh in her honour. By 6.30pm the place was heaving and many were buying numerous tickets for the raffle and making use of the subsidised bar.

The place was packed almost to capacity, with a few of Amy’s close family and friends joining her ITV family as well as some special guests including TV’s Dr Hilary Jones, Lee Brennan from 90s boyband 911, former Emmerdale actress Gemma Oaten, Dancing On Ice’s Matt Evers, Good Morning Britain’s Laura Tobin, celebrity chef Marcus Bean and Wet Wet Wet musician Graeme Clarke.

Proceedings for the night were opened with a moving video message from This Morning presenter Eamonn Holmes, who spoke of Amy’s uplifting presence in the ITV studios and of how she is so missed by everyone there. Yet Amy herself would have liked nothing more than for everyone to have a great time and so the mood for the rest of the evening was set as comedian Dave Gibson took to the stage, leaving us all in stitches with his stand-up act, including some well-placed video gags. His set was followed by the superb comic and musician Steven Seller who kept us all in high spirits with his humorous ditties delivered with some impressive keyboard playing and a sonorous voice.

Altogether, through ticket sales for the night, along with raffle ticket sales, random donations from well-wishers who couldn’t make it and the money coming in from the bar, we managed to raise in excess of £5,700.

This amount would not have been possible without those who donated so generously to the raffle and all who made the effort to buy raffle tickets and come and toast Amy on the night. Sue, Roger and all of Amy’s family and friends would like to thank each and every person who was a part of this brilliant night from the bottom of their hearts – it was a real reflection of how much Amy is loved and supported by her friends at ITV.