Before long Peter Freestone and our MPT leader Claudia Walker were on stage relaying how the evening was going to unfold and thanking our sponsors. Claudia loves this event and enjoys mingling with the fans and she proved to be a real hit whenever she was on stage, geeing up the crowd at every turn.

This year's exclusive screening was 'The American Dream', the documentary that will be released as part of the News Of The World 40th Anniversary box set. To keep things fresh we invited Simon Lupton, the film’s producer, to introduce the feature and to take part in a Q&A with the audience which proved very popular; we had some super questions and Simon gave great insight in how he put the documentary together.

"I’ve never met an audience that dedicated" Johan Boding (Night Of Queen)

Our live entertainment, Night Of Queen, had been recommended to us a few times over the years and when given the stamp of approval by one of our own team, we had to check them out - and are we so glad we did. Lead by vocalist Johan Boding, this incredibly tight band, and 7-piece choir produced a quite staggering show, and it was a show, not a gig. Lights, visuals, costumes and crowd interaction were all part of this dazzling performance, and it wasn't just the regular hits, we got ‘Innuendo', 'Too Much Love Will Kill You', 'The Prophets Song', ‘Barcelona’ even got an airing and there was a quite jaw dropping version of 'You Take My Breath Away' - they didn't even end with 'We Will Rock You' and 'We Are The Champions'(!), that honour went to 'I Want It All'. The show was streamed live too and by the looks of the statistics proved VERY popular! Yep, we’ll have those guys back, no doubt - and such lovely people.

"Oh My God, oh my goodness, oh, oh, oh.Oh My God!”

One of the biggest thrills for us was announcing the winners of the Brian May and Roger Taylor 'Meet and Greet' draw. If you were there, you will know who Deborah Buffinton is! Funny, frantic and emotional, all wrapped up into a wonderful ball of Australian energy. 

Next up was the now traditional 'Queen X-Factor Karaoke and it gave a handful of plucky party goers a chance to hit the stage and brave the Queen Team Panel. They had to be particularly thick skinned this year to deal with Pete Malandrone’s cutting remarks! “An accountant huh? Stick to that."

The night came to a close to the strains of 'My Melancholy Blues' floating from the speakers in the main room and our beaming revellers reluctantly spilling out of the Casino. Claudia had previously asked the question from the stage "So, do you want to do this again next year, you beautiful people?!“ The roar was deafening. Looks like that is settled then.

If you have any photos from the night, your travels to Montreux, even the morning after, please do send them via either Dropbox or WeTransfer into us at [email protected] - we would just love to see them, they will go a long way in continuing to show how much fun we have fundraising in the name Freddie and give us inspiration for next year. (Please do not attach photos to your email as they will be too large and may not make it through the security gateway ;) 

It really is easy to just type Thank You here on a keyboard as part of this write-up, but we, The MPT Team, really do mean it. Thank you to all who came to Montreux, thanks to all who watched the live stream and thanks to all who donated on the night. When you guys had all left the building and we were packing up in the small hours, we were all still buzzing with how the event had gone, an event that is made for you and by you, the fans. 

So, once more, for the record. THANK YOU.