Despite strong support from the community, we regrettably announce the cancellation of this year’s Winter Ball, which had been scheduled for August 12.

The decision to cancel the Ball is a particularly difficult one, especially given the success of last year’s sold-out event.

We were really looking forward to hosting our supporters once again this year, however, due to staff changes and a number of competing demands on our agency at this time, we unfortunately do not have the capacity over the next couple of months to organise an event of this size to the standard our supporters have come to expect from Veritas House.

We share the disappointment of all who hoped to attend this year’s Ball. Thank you to everyone who had already secured tickets; we will of course be issuing refunds. And we’d like to sincerely thank our incredible sponsors; this year’s platinum sponsor, Peak Connect, gold sponsors Raine & Horne Bathurst, Bathurst RSL, Bathurst Goldfields, Radio 2BS and Western Advocate, silver sponsors Verto and See Saw Wines, and bronze sponsors Ross Hill Wines, Capital Chemist and Central Commercial Printers.

Another factor in the decision has been the number of other charities, services and community groups who have announced Balls and fundraising events this year. Given the enormous success of our fundraising Ball last year, which exceeded our expectations, we don’t want to compete with our local service and charity partners this year but encourage the community to get behind their events instead.

In lieu of this opportunity to fundraise for our service and given that the event was to coincide with National Homelessness Week, we encourage members of the community who are still keen to support us to contribute a tax-deductible donation towards our Transitional Youth Housing Appeal.