Sparkle Ball raises over £90,000

We held our first charity fundraising ball in the UK, raising more than £90,000, a huge feat for the charity and the sector during covid.

The event took place on Friday 8 October 2021, hosted over 325 guests at Braxted Park, Essex, and was a resounding success. Due to COVID-19, the event was postponed from October 2019, but has raised more than doubled the original goal of £40,000.


Funds raised by the Sparkle Ball will allow the charity to not only meet the budget for its programmes in Malawi, but will also help to expand Sparkle to new sites across Malawi. This is an outstanding achievement, given that since the start of the pandemic, Sparkle has struggled (alongside the rest of the charity sector) with fundraising efforts, and to date is approximately 40% under its 2021 fundraising targets.

 

The night of the Sparkle Ball saw guests bidding on a number of both live auction prizes, including stays at an Ibiza villa, a French ski chalet, and a Seychelles apartment. With bids on a silent auction platform and donations from guests on the night, the charity was completely overwhelmed by its success in raising over £90,000.

 

Sarah Brook, CEO and Founder of The Sparkle Foundation, said: “Three years ago, I was fundraising in my parents’ kitchen trying to generate £2,000 from 50 friends and family to keep some of The Sparkle Foundation children in Malawi in school. Fast forward to now and we have a sold-out event at one of the most prestigious venues in Essex, UK, after a pandemic, which has raised enough money to cover six months of our costs next year to support 10,000 people in Malawi.

 

“We are incredibly grateful to all our supporters. It is a proud moment for the charity to see how far we have come in such a short space of time and it is inspiring for me as the founder to see the acts of kindness shown by so many to make the event possible. This is just the start of what The Sparkle Foundation can do in the charity sector.”

Spark to Success: How Tailoring Training Is Empowering Women in Malawi

By Talhia Le Berre • June 16, 2026
In the village of Sakata, in Zomba District, Malawi, sixteen women are bent over sewing machines, measuring, cutting, threading, and stitching. What they are creating is more than clothing. They are building futures. This is The Sparkle Foundation's tailoring skills training programme, one of the first initiatives to launch under Spark to Success, a powerful two year partnership with NAMA Women Advancement , a UAE-based organisation dedicated to advancing women's economic participation and building resilient communities worldwide.
Volunteer Leith with a local woman at a community water pump in Malawi, during her Journey with Pur

Leith: From a Chance Meeting to a Life-Changing Journey

By Talhia Le Berre • May 21, 2026
Perth teacher Leith travelled to Malawi as a first-time volunteer with The Sparkle Foundation and came home changed. Read her story.

Stuart: From Legacy to Lived Experience

By Talhia Le Berre • April 27, 2026
For over ten years, The Payback Time Trust has supported The Sparkle Foundation, a relationship first led by Stuart Barcock’s late father, Peter, alongside his stepmother, Kathy, who were early believers in Sparkle’s vision. While Stuart had long been aware of and connected to Sparkle through this relationship, his involvement deepened significantly after becoming a Trustee in early 2023. Since then, his connection to the charity has been more direct and engaged, shaped through ongoing conversations, updates, and a growing understanding of our work. This year, that connection took on a different form. Stuart travelled to Malawi this past March to experience our work in person. Not as an observer from afar, but as someone stepping directly into the environments, communities, and programmes his family family had supported for so long. This is the story of Stuart's journey with purpose. What I Thought I Knew Having supported The Sparkle Foundation for more than a decade, the decision to visit Malawi felt both natural and necessary. From the perspective of The Payback Time Trust, it was important that one of us saw the work first-hand, to understand not only what is being delivered but how it comes together on the ground. Reports and conversations provide insight, but they inevitably leave gaps. Being there, physically present, offers a different level of clarity . There was also a personal dimension to the trip. The trust itself was founded by my [late] father and stepmother, who had been early supporters of The Sparkle Foundation and a strong believers in [founder] Sarah’s vision. Continuing that connection is something I take seriously, and this visit felt like an extension of that responsibility, as well as a way of honouring what they had helped to start.