The Masquerade Ball

Friday night saw us attend one of the major social events of the Abu Dhabi ex pat calendar the inaugural Masquerade Ball at the Hiltonia Beach Club. Organised by our friend Maria Brown from Reed and the Abu Dhabi Networking Group to raise money for Ethiopiaid it was a glittering event which we greatly enjoyed. 15 years after Bob Geldof and Band Aid started to highlight the plight of people in Ethiopia there is still plenty to be done.
So we put on our ball gowns and dinner jackets and thanks to the efforts of my new friend Carmel, donned the necessary masks and tried to head for the Hilton. We had the usual trauma of booking taxis (2 from two different companies who we were assured were on their way) that never turn up - we were reduced to wandering around Al Nasr St in full regalia desperately trying to flag one down! Eventually we got lucky as one was dropping people off and we lept in. I am getting to despair about hard it is to get a taxi. Anyway we arrived and after some strange blue cocktails found ourselves on the VIP table with Maria (who was rushing around making sure all went smoothly), Carmel and her husband David, who works for Rolls-Royce, a couple from Dubai, the acting Canadian Ambassador and Stuart Law, the cricketer. Stuart has been based in the UK for some time and it seemed amazing to sit down at a ball in Abu Dhabi and find my neighbour lives in Wilmslow!
The ball was in the garden and it was a beautiful evening. It just seemed incredible to be sitting outside, warm and comfortable, under the stars at the end of October!
We ate a sumptuous buffet and then were entertained by a whole host of sporting stars who regaled us with stories and helped the auction along, adding in personal memorabilia and even auctioning off views of their (in Scott Hastings' case very) private parts! As well as Stuart and Scott there was Ian Rush, Darren Gough, Chris Cairns, Phil Neal and Dominic Cork.
It all seemed to be a huge success and most have raised tens of thousands of Dirhams for the cause.
The dancing started at 12.30, but, being old fogey's we decided to head for home, gathering up our well stuffed goody bags and making a last stumbling (due to the sand and unsuitable Gina stillettoes combination, not alcohol consumption!)exit. Thankfully at the Hilton you can get a taxi any time of the day or night.
It was a lovely evening.