| Comedy / Auction Charity Night |
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THE WELL Foundation hosted a Comedy /Auction night as part of our effort to try and raise £20,000 to build five wells in Malawi, Africa. The comedy and auction night was held on Tuesday 21st July 2009 at Hamilton Town Hall, 102 Cadzow St, Hamilton, Lanarkshire. We'd like to thank all who attended the event as well as all the people who kindly gave up their own time to help staff and organise this event.
Special thanks go out to the comedians who appeared on the night - Jeff Mirza and Shazia Mirza.
Emma-award-winning Jeff Mirza is 'Europe's top Asian stand-up comedian' and considered the daddy of the new wave such as Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars At No.42. His acting credits include Bend It Like Beckham and the role of Mo in the TV adaptation of Zadie Smith's White Teeth. Mirza has been described by the Manchester Guardian as a lovable fella. They said: "His warm, incisive, wit-strewn comedy celebrates the absurd." Time Out said: "The sharpest Asian stand-up on the alternative comedy circuit but also Britain’s best loved Asian comedian". And Jeff M really is a laugh, playing on that cross-over, mixed up world of the British Asian tackling issues from food to football (and other letters from the rest of the alphabet). The UK's first British Asian Muslim Stand up Comedian to tour Saudi Arabia. Apart from stand-up comedy, Jeff is the host of the World's first interfaith gameshow called "Faith Off" on the Islam Channel "UK'S top Asian Stand up" The Guardian 
Shazia Mirza is a British comedian from Birmingham, England. About a year into her stand-up comedy career, she gained UK-wide publicity in the months when the world was coming to terms with the September 11, 2001 attacks. This was because at this time she would perform her act in recognizable hijab dress and begin with the deadpan remark, "My name is Shazia Mirza. At least, that's what it says on my pilot's licence." In 2003, she was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. In recent years, she has performed stand-up at the Edinburgh Fringe and, since 2006, has been writing a fortnightly column in The New Statesman magazine for which she won 'Columnist of the Year 2008' at the prestigious PPA Awards. In April 2007, she presented a documentary on BBC Three called F*** Off, I'm a Hairy Woman. She was a semi-finalist on Last Comic Standing season 6. In March 2009, she was listed on the inaugural Muslim Women's Power List as one of the 20 most successful Muslim women in the UK. We also auctioned off some top prizes to raise money for our well-building programs, including: a Boxing Glove signed by the legendary Mohammed Ali - The Greatest Boxer of all time; a Football Boot signed by, arguably the World's best player, Brazil's Kaka (Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite); A Liverpool Football Club number 9 shirt signed by Fernando Torres and a Barcelona Football Club shirt signed by several of the first-team's superstar players. Although, The Well Foundation comedy and auction night was a phenomenal success, we raised well in excess of £10,000 on the night, helping us reach our goal of building five wells in Malawi, we still need your help to raise even more money so that we can continue in our mission of bringing clean and safe drinking water to the people who need it most. If you haven't done so already please download our Standing Order donation form, or text Well to 82540. Giving even £3 will make a HUGE difference. The Comedy and Auction night was kindly sponsored by:
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