Celebrities were out in force in London at ‘Ginza’ the Japanese evening in aid of Pratham. The event was to raise awareness of the charity, which tackles illiteracy amongst India’s 100 million underprivileged children.

The spectacular evening was arranged by Pratham’s ambassador Tanaz Dizadji, who had invited her celebrity friends to attend. The exclusive party was a huge success with the very competitive bidding during the auction raising in excess of £113,000. The top item which raised £13,000 was the VIP Manchester United package which allowed the winning bidder to fly, train and dine with the team.

Another popular item was the signed racing helmet kindly donated by World Racing champion Jenson Button.

Charity Pratham has reached over £33 million children since the launch of its "Read India" campaign in 2007. Utilizing its ground-breaking teaching techniques, the Read India campaign is efficiently run by mobilizing over 450,000 volunteers who currently work in more than half of India’s 600,000 villages. The cost of education per village is a mere £12 per annum.

Tanaz Dizadji became the ambassador of Pratham when she travelled to Mumbai and saw the extreme conditions of poverty. She returned to the UK and gave up her city job to become ambassador of the charity and make a difference.

The event was attended by the following celebrities:

Danielle Lloyd and Jamie O’Hara

Anthony Costa (Blue)

Rochelle Wiseman (The Saturdays)

Yasmin Le Bon

Bianca Jagger

Melissa Odabash

Amber and Tom Aiken

James Caan (Dragon’s Den)

Michael Eavis

Mark Shand

Kim Hersov

Ben Elliot

Donna Air

David Richards

http://www.pratham.org.uk www.pratham.org.uk.