TRIBUTE DINNER TO JIMMY OSMOND
In aid of Variety Club of Great Britain
Sunday, 26th February, 2006
To thank him for all his charity work with them, The Variety Club of Great Britain, held a tribute dinner for Jimmy Osmond, at Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool.
The roots of the Variety Club of Great Britain go back to 1927 when,
in Pittsburgh, United States, a group of 11 friends set up a social club,
which they named the Variety Club, as all its members were drawn from
various branches of the show business world.
On Christmas Eve 1928 a one-month-old baby was abandoned on a seat in
the Sheridan Square Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The mother had
pinned a note to little girl’s dress, explaining that she already
had eight other children and her husband was out of work.
She appealed to “the goodness of show business people” to
look after her baby. When all efforts by the police and local newspapers
failed to locate the parents, the theatre's 11 club members decided to
underwrite the infant's support and education.
The child was named Catherine Variety Sheridan. The 11 "godfathers" were
proud that a distraught mother had entrusted her child to show-people.
The subsequent publicity surrounding Catherine and her benefactors attracted
many other show business people anxious to help. Before long Catherine
had more clothes and toys than any child could possibly need.
The Club members had no trouble finding other disadvantaged children
to benefit from the extra gifts and while the generous show business
world donated presents to Catherine, the Club continued to supply a growing
number of children with much-needed presents. As a result, by the time
Catherine was adopted at the age of five, the Club that she had effectively
started was well on the way to becoming a recognised children's charity;
actively raising funds for its adopted cause of disadvantaged children.
Jimmy Osmond is the youngest member of the famous singing family with
a string of hits in the 1970’s. Recently he appeared in I’m
a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. Jimmy was well supported by his fellow
celebrities from the programme; including Carol Thatcher (The Queen of
the Jungle), and three of his elder brothers; with whom he is in the
middle of a UK Tour, playing dates all over the country.
Bellagio Time Foundation was pleased to donated a 2.1ct diamond timepiece,
and, given the location of the dinner, we also donated a Steven Gerrard
signed Liverpool FC shirt. Together the timepiece and shirt, in addition
to prizes during the casino night, raised £4,700