AN ANNIVERSARY ball at Rockliffe Hall raised a record £7,000 for the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS).

The event, marking the resort’s third anniversary, was hosted by ITV Tyne Tees presenter and GNAAS patron, Pam Royle, and featured more than 100 guests.

The money was raised through generous bids for auction prizes, including cooking lessons and lunch with Rockliffe Hall’s director of food, Kenny Atkinson, golf with PGA tour professional, Graeme Storm and the chance to spend the day with the BBC football commentary team at a Middlesbrough FC home game.

Rockliffe Hall has been fundraising for the GNAAS throughout 2012 and its managing director, Nick Holmes, said: “Being able to support such a fantastic charity with so many events is a real privilege for me and the team at Rockliffe Hall.

“The anniversary ball proved a tremendous success - we’ve never raised such a lot of money at one event.

“It’s great to be able to donate a further £7,000 to the Great North Air Ambulance and we’re very grateful to everyone who gave so generously.

“This brings the total raised so far this year by Rockliffe Hall to £10,000.”

Mandy Drake, head of fundraising at GNAAS, added: "This is another outstanding amount of money raised by Rockliffe Hall.

“It’s overwhelming to see how generous people can be.

“Our lifesaving aircraft rely totally on donations so this is such a boost to our coffers."

The GNAAS operates three aircraft across two bases at Durham Tees Valley Airport, near Darlington, and at Langwathby, near Penrith in Cumbria.