Ice work at charity seahorse ball (From Bucks Free Press)

Ice work at charity seahorse ball

9:53am Friday 27th May 2005 in News By staff reporter

CELEBRITY art has helped to raise thousands of pounds at auction for the fifth National Society for Epilepsy annual Seahorse Ball.

An auction of hand-drawn ink sketches by the stars, a signed Elton John CD, and a holiday for two on Richard Branson's private Virgin Island, helped raise a record £50,000 for the Chalfont St Peter based charity.

Phil Collins, Joe Pasquale, Carol Smiley and Bill Nighy were among the 350 guests who donated their art to the star-studded ball at Grosvenor House Hotel, in London on Thursday, May 19.

The underwater-themed evening took its inspiration from the charity's fundraising emblem, the seahorse, chosen because of its resemblance to the seahorse-shaped part of the brain where epilepsy often originates (the hippocampus Latin for seahorse).

Guests were delighted to find 2ft seahorse ice sculptures on every table, while coloured seahorse images were projected across the walls.

An NSE spokesman said he was delighted with the ball's loyal celebrity following which helped to raise the profile of its research into epilepsy.