Olympic medallist Tom Daley has dived in to support to a unique charity event taking place in St Albans next month to raise money for The Hospice of St Francis.

Tom has thrown his support behind The Chocolate Ball by giving organisers a unique auction prize offering a group of six people the chance to spend the afternoon with him, watching him train at Stratford’s Olympic Pool and enjoying some social time together afterwards.

Ball is the brainchild of Peter and Kath Barker, founders of St Albans’ The Chocolate Wrapper, a manufacturer of personalised chocolate confectionary in Harpenden.

The event on Friday, November 14, at The Ardmore House Hotel, St Albans, will be an indulgent evening of fine food, dancing, fund raising and of course chocolate.

Peter explained: "A dear friend of ours, Paul Atkins, passed away at the Hospice in June at the age of 54 just six weeks after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.

"We were so impressed with the level of care and support that he and his family received during those difficult days that we wanted to show our support for what is truly an important local charity."

Paul’s widow Caroline, from Harpenden Road, said: "Losing Paul has been a huge shock.

"We all miss him so much but the care and support the Hospice gave all of us was phenomenal. Everyone was so caring – it was like being looked after by family rather than people who don’t even know you.

"Within hours of arriving, Paul felt he was being listened to and taken seriously. The whole experience made all the difference to his final two weeks and we hope events like The Chocolate Ball will enable others to benefit from its care when they need it."

Pete added: "As Founders of The Chocolate Wrapper we knew that whatever we did had to involve chocolate and so the idea for The Chocolate Ball was born.

"We launched the idea when we were on holiday in August and I set myself the goal of having something sorted, booked and promoted by the time we returned home.

"Amazingly we managed to build and launch a web site (www.thechocolateball.org), book a venue, run a teaser campaign on Facebook and launch the event whilst we were away.

"Within 12 hours of launching we’d sold over 70 tickets. Within a week we’d sold over 150 and before the end of August the event had sold out.

"As a result, 160 Chocolate Ballers will all be enjoying an indulgent evening and hopefully helping us to raise lots of money for the hospice too."

While tickets for The Chocolate Ball are sold out, anyone can get involved in bidding on the charity auction lots, including the special date with Tom, by visiting the charity auction website at http://www.thechocolateball.org/charity-auction/