24 pictures as National Hereditary Breast Cancer Helpline charity ball returns with a bang at Chesterfield’s Technique Stadium

Prominent members of the charity and special guests gathered at the home of the Spireites on Sunday, November 13, to mark the momentous occasion with a three-course meal, drinks reception and music.

It is the first time the annual ball has been held for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic – with this year’s event also acting as a premiere for a new charity single set to be released next month.

The charity’s founder, Wendy Watson, was just 37 when she became Britain's first woman to have both breasts removed in 1992 in a desperate bid to halt the disease which had devastated three generations of her family.

She started The National Hereditary Breast Cancer Helpline just four years later and has fielded thousands of calls and emails from all groups of people with concerns of their familial increased risk since its inception.

As well as this, Wendy has been a speaker at many conferences including Breakthrough, Breast Cancer Care, Royal College of Nursing and sat on committees of several trials, including the MARIBS study into MRIs, and the European series of Psychological Impact of Genetic Testing for Breast Cancer.

In 2018 on the 70th anniversary of the NHS, she was also credited with changing the way breast cancer is treated.

Wendy, who was awarded an MBE in 2012 for her work, was just one of the guests at the annual National Hereditary Breast Cancer Helpline ball.

Here’s a selection of pictures from the night’s celebrations: