“Oh What A Night” as the song goes.

The MMMF held it’s annual fundraising gala dinner on Friday 20th October in the Manchester Suite at Old Trafford.

To quote from the MMMF Chair’s Welcome Message “The MMMF dinner is not only an opportunity to meet up with old friends and members of the United Family, it’s a gathering of hearts and minds dedicated to making a difference. Tonight, we unite in our commitment to change lives and create hope. Your presence here empowers our mission, and we are deeply grateful for your generosity and support. Enjoy the evening.”

And enjoy we did. It was an electric atmospheric night, of not only breaking, but smashing records as nearly 400 guests enjoyed a fantastic evening and most importantly, over £40k (£40,388 to be precise) was raised for our charities via auctions, raffles and very kind donations.

In addition to a superb 3-course meal, the evening included:

• Tracey Malone’s emotional singing of The Flowers of Manchester
• Tony Walsh, one of the UK’s most widely acclaimed professional poets, giving a live recital of his wonderful and moving “Jimmy Murphy: Without Whom” poem that was specially commissioned by MUFC to mark the unveiling of Jimmy’s statue earlier this year. The whole audience was spellbound with the content and his superb delivery of “Without Whom”
• The draw for the two “Fan’s Reps” for Munich 2024. Congratulations to the successful applicant Alan Egan and his daughter Sarah. We look forward to you joining us in Munich next February.
• A lovely short speech from Rachel Taylor from Francis House, our most recently added charity.

Sonic Waves, a locally-based band topped off the evening with a superb performance with guests dancing away into the night.

Our thanks go to Alan Keegan, aka The Voice of Old Trafford who not only MC’d the evening, but also acting as auctioneer. His brilliant and inimitable style no doubt helped to raise that record breaking amount

Our thanks and appreciation also go to the following Busby Babes families, who were strongly represented:

• Sir Matt Busby
• Jimmy Murphy
• Albert Scanlon
• Jackie Blanchflower
• Tom Curry
• Dennis Viollet
• Harry Gregg
• Tommy Taylor

And finally, a HUGE thank you to each and every one who supported the event through your attendance, donating some truly magnificent auction prizes, and helping us continue to support our charities.

Photos courtesy of David Featherstone and Derian House.