Team behind flop Winter Wonderland SSB yet to donate money to charity

The team behind Rio Safer Sex Ball have donated £10,000 to a local sexual health charity – while their rivals who ran the Winter Wonderland Ball have yet to shell out a penny.

Branded as “the Rio ball’s uglier, uncool younger brother”, it would seem the Winter Wonderland ball of last December didn’t just let down the attending students with its lack of MIC cast members – it also let down the HIV support charity, The Eddystone Trust.

A press release from local HIV/AIDs charity The Eddystone Trust which supports patients in Devon and Cornwall, as well as running outreach and prevention work, shows the only organisation which donated any money to them was The Enchanted Group.

The Enchanted Group donated £10,000 after their hugely successful Rio-themed event, but the charitable actions from the team behind the rival Winter Wonderland event aren’t quite as clear.

Both the Enchanted Group and Volt Marketing, the organisers behind the Winter Wonderland Ball at Westpoint Arena just a few days after pledged to donate money to charity after the Ball.

The Eddystone Trust confirmed how despite their initial plans, Volt Marketing, who are also the team behind Cardiff-based Electric Ents, have made no donation of any kind to date.

In a press release they said: “The Enchanted Group are the only organisation who have made a donation to The Eddystone Trust and are the only Ball event which is endorsed by The Eddystone Trust.”

Second year and attendee to both events Sherri Andrew said: “It’s an utter shambles.

“One of the only reasons I could justify attending the Winter Wonderland ball was the knowledge some money was being donated to charity.

“It’s completely shameful.”

Between 2012 and 2013 there was a 12% increase in the number of new HIV diagnosis in the Cornwall, Devon and Somerset area.

In 2013, 1,123 people were accessing HIV care in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset. This represents a 9% increase on the 1,026 people accessing care in the region in 2012.

Mags Davies, chief executive officer of the Eddystone Trust, said: “We would like to thank everyone who came to the Safer Sex Ball and made a donation.

“The money donated will have a significant impact and will be spent on enabling the charity to run campaigns and work even more closely with local communities and individuals.

“We hope you had a great evening and had a good time raising money.

“We would particularly like to thank Tom, Sam and all at the Enchanted Group for keeping this fantastic event going and keeping the ethos of supporting your local HIV charity.”

Sarah Aston from the Eddystone Trust receives a cheque for £10,000 from Tom Wye and Sam King of The Enchanted Group

EGB honcho Tom Wye said: “It was fantastic to be able to bring the legendary Safer Sex Ball for Exeter University students whilst raising such a significant amount for The Eddystone Trust.

“This year’s ‘Rio’ themed event saw just over 2,000 students attend the event on 7th Dec, raising £10,000 for the charity.

“We’d like to thank all the students that attended and helped raised money for this great cause.

“We’ve already started planning the next event and hope to raise even more for The Eddystone Trust – tickets go on sale in September.”

Winter Wonderland SSB mastermind Christian Samuel confirmed no proceeds went to charity, and revealed a hefty sum of £12,000 was lost because of the event.

He said: “We lost money, simple as. There’s no money to give when money’s lost.”