Prizes this year include a course of HydraFacials with Dr Nestor, a 1920s Speakeasy experience, a burger party for six at the Champanay Inn and more. The lots can be viewed here.

The Ball is organised by the Tumbling Lassie Appeal which is run by members of the Faculty of Advocates to raise funds for charities fighting against modern slavery and people trafficking and to help survivors in Scotland and beyond.

Now in its fifth year, the Tumbling Lassie Ball is Scotland’s largest anti-trafficking fundraising event. It takes place on Saturday 28 October 2023 at Prestonfield House in Edinburgh.

Renowned Scottish artist Elaine Johnston will paint live on stage throughout the event, and her completed piece will be auctioned later in the evening. The auctioneer will be Scottish television presenter, antiques and art expert Natasha Raskin Sharp, one of the stars of TV’s Flog It!, Bargain Hunt and Antiques Road Trip. 

The Tumbling Lassie Appeal is named in honour of a case decided by the Court of Session in Edinburgh in 1687, Reid v Scot of Harden and his Lady, which concerned a young girl gymnast, known to history only by her nickname, “the tumbling lassie”.

She performed as an act in public entertainments put on by one Reid, a “mountebank” or travelling showman. She was being worn out by having to dance in Reid’s shows and ran away, taking refuge with the Scots of Harden, a family from the Scottish Borders.

Reid sued the Scots and produced a written contract, showing that he had “bought” the tumbling lassie from her mother. He argued that the tumbling lassie belonged to him as his property.

The Court of Session dismissed Reid’s claim, impliedly declaring the tumbling lassie free. The only surviving report of the case contains the trenchant observation: “But we have no slaves in Scotland, and mothers cannot sell their bairns…”

More details on the Ball and other events planned by the Tumbling Lassie Appeal can be found here.