Silverstone Ball lifts spirits for British GP.

Traditional British weather certainly failed to dampen the party spirit at Stowe School last night as the Cantor Fitzgerald Silverstone Ball kicked off the 2002 British Grand Prix weekend in style.

Welsh rockers The Stereophonics headlined the event, giving an awesome performance in front of a star-studded audience that included Nick Moran, Roger Taylor, Ray Winstone, Big Brother's Spencer and new mum Jordan, who was on her first big night out since giving birth to baby Harvey a month ago.

Guests were treated to appearances by no less than seven Formula One drivers, as Giancarlo Fisichella (Jordan), Takuma Sato (Jordan), Nick Heidfeld (Sauber), Felipe Massa (Sauber), Enrique Bernoldi (Arrows) and Mark Webber (Minardi) all took time out of their race preparations to join in the fun.

The biggest cheer of the evening however, was saved for British hope Jenson Button who appeared relaxed ahead of his home Grand Prix on Sunday.

As the drivers left for an early night, the pace picked up as Jaki Graham, Gwen Dickey and Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel took to the stage, but of all the fantastic performances it was the newly reformed Sister Sledge who stole the show, belting out hit after hit as the audience called for more. In what was perhaps one of the more surreal moments of the champagne fuelled evening, Manchester United ace Ryan Giggs grabbed the microphone and demonstrated his rapping skills with an impromptu hip-hop number as the crowd looked on in amazement.

Charity also played its part in the proceedings with beneficiaries of the Silverstone Ball auction including CLIC (Cancer and Leukaemia in Childhood) and the Princess Royal Trust for Carers. Over the last five years, the Grand Prix Balls have raised over ?2million for charity and last night's auction of items including a dive to the Titanic looks set to have furthered the charities' cause.