In the biggest communal dinner in three years, 900 Jewish Care supporters packed Grosvenor House in London’s Park Lane on Monday, raising £5 million for the welfare charity.

Speakers including Sajid Javid - on the day before he resigned as Health Secretary -highlighted the efforts of front-line staff during the pandemic. Boy George closed the programme with a set of Culture Club’s greatest hits, getting diners up on their feet.

Mr Javid paid tribute to the contribution of the charity’s employees, volunteers and donors during the pandemic.

“That vital work at Jewish Care continues, touching the lives of over 10,000 people every single week and you have some remarkable achievements to point to,” he said.

“But my favourite fact was that Jewish Care provides 200,000 bowls of chicken soup every single year. And I thought it was only Asian mothers that could cook at that scale!”

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting was also among the guests.

Charity chair Jonathan Zenios observed that its last dinner “was back in June 2019, a time many of us might call the ‘before’. And here we are in what we all hope is the ‘after’. But for Jewish Care there has been no ‘before’, ‘after’ or ‘during’ the pandemic. Jewish Care never stops.”

Over the past year, it had fully opened its newest care campus, Sandringham in Stanmore, “where 128 people now call home.

“Sandringham was made possible only by the incredible generosity of our supporters.

“Fundraising is vital to our success and why events like these and others are so crucial. Never more so than now, as the financial pressures on Jewish Care increase.”

Chief executive Daniel Carmel-Brown said afterwards that “to have raised £5 million is a magnificent success and a great start to our campaign year, where we will need to raise a total of £16 million”.

Life president Lord Levy said: “It was so good to be back together after such a long time apart and seeing the room full of our supporters was truly amazing. Jewish Care is a lifeline to so many and I want to pay tribute to our staff who ensured that our services continued and adapted during the pandemic and ensure that our community is cared for, day in and day out."