Wentworth Woodhouse Black Diamonds ball raises over £25,000 and brings guests from the USA

The recent Black Diamonds Ball at Wentworth Woodhouse in Rotherham drew supporters from across the Atlantic.

A party from Jacksonville, Florida, mixed with Yorkshire dignitaries, business leaders and supporters at the black tie event, in the Grade I listed mansion’s magnificent Marble Saloon.

The U.S. guests were representing Rotherham-born Margaret Black-Scott, a former vice-chair at Morgan Stanley’s global wealth management arm, and her husband David Scott, a former NASA Astronaut and the first person to drive on the Moon.

Mags and David, who was the commander of the three-strong Apollo 15 crew which went to the Moon in 1971, visited the house in 2023 and have been supporters ever since.

The ball raised over £25,000 for the Dame Julie Kenny Legacy Fund, which launched after the death of Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust’s visionary Chair of Trustees in 2025.

Dame Julie played a crucial part in Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust’s purchase of the Grade I listed country house in 2017 and the Legacy Fund continues Dame Julie’s support for the house she loved.

She founded the fundraising ball in 2019 and named it after author Catherine Bailey’s book Black Diamonds, which charted the story of the house’s owners and the fortunes they made made from coal.

In the night’s silent auction, WWPT’s trustee John Caldwell and friends placed the top bid for the chance to be silversmiths for the day. 

They will be heading to Yorkshire Artspace’s Persistence Works in Sheffield to be taught by award-winning makers Brett Payne and Rebecca Joselyn. The silver spoons they create will be hallmarked during a VIP visit to Sheffield Assay Office.