On Saturday, 1st April 2017, I had the privilege of photographing the Nicky Woodbridge Fundraising 1940s Night at Market Harborough Rugby Club.  

Back in January I ran a competition for people to win a voucher for money off a photography booking with me.  In order to ‘win’ you had to make your case to me for why you should do so.  When I received the entry from Emily Woodbridge, it was immediately clear that it would take something pretty special to beat her to the grand prize.

Nicky Woodbridge Fundraising

Emily’s mum, Nicky, tragically passed away in January 2010 after losing a second battle with breast cancer.  Emily, through her organisation Nicky Woodbridge Fundraising, has sought to raise awareness of breast cancer while at the same time raising funds for cancer charities.  Together with her enthusiastic band of supporters, she has hosted a series of events and taken part in a number of charity runs. 

1940s Night

The 2017 event was set for the evening of Saturday, 1st April and hosted at Market Harborough Rugby Club.  It would be a 1940s-themed night with period music provided by Major Swing & Kitty.  The charity beneficiary this time around was to be Coppafeel.

The evening itself was well-supported and great fun!  These events have a real following, and there were plenty of people present with a hardcore love of 1940s dance.  What was nice was that there was also a real desire to share their knowledge with the newbies. 

It was a bit like a school day for me, too!  Most of the tunes were new to me (the dances certainly were!), and timing the pictures so that arms/hands/backs of heads were not in the way of faces was a bit of a challenge! 

I did also feel that the stills failed to really convey the abilities of many of those taking part, so I did shoot some video as well:

Nicky Woodbridge Fundraising 1940s Night from Karl Drage on Vimeo.

As well as the dancing there was a raffle (with an amazing first prize of a holiday!) and some fab cakes and tarts to tuck into. 

Everybody appeared to have a great time, and more than £800 was raised for Coppafeel.  Well done Emily and the whole Nicky Woodbridge Fundraising team – you should all be very proud!  It was a pleasure to have been a (very small) part of it! 

Get in Contact

Please use one of the methods on the Contact Us page to get in touch if you would like to enquire about my availability or discuss your needs.

I am based in Northamptonshire but I am willing to travel out of area.  Please be aware this may bring with it an additional cost.

Karl Drage is a professional Northamptonshire event and wedding photographer. He also covers surrounding counties such as Leicestershire, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Rutland, Oxfordshire & Warwickshire.  If you are looking for an affordable wedding photographer in the towns of Northampton, Kettering, Wellingborough, Oundle, Corby, Peterborough, Leicester, Huntingdon, Towcester, Rugby, Daventry, Oakham or nearby, please use one of the methods on the Contact Us page to get in touch.  He will be only too happy to go through your needs with you and will endeavour to put together a competitive solution that meets them.