It’s 8.45 am Saturday 11th June and the phone goes, Chef Thomas Leatherbarrow has arrived to continue prep for the first H&C News Summer Supper Club Charity Party. The day has arrived and yes continue prep, we have 35 guests arriving at 7.15 pm and they’re all expecting to be fed and watered well. The previous day two Chefs had both spent 6 hours on prep and there’s still loads to do.
The Table is setThe house where the party took place was made for parties. The perfect party venue provided by one of our supporters, Sharon Richey, CEO of Because Experiential Marketing. The charity that the party is raising funds for, Add Positivity, was founded by Sharon and is one of her passions.
Some of the children benefiting from funds raised by the partyDeliveries of food, furniture, tableware, glasses, drinks, flowers, cutlery and much more had been arriving all week and Saturday was the day that a team of 15 people were working to bring everything together. Chefs, waiters, waitresses, a mixologist and a kitchen porter as well as a few all round ‘helper outers’ were all there voluntarily to make things happen.
The ‘helper outers’Long story short the party jigsaw came together and as guests started to arrive the table was set, the food was cooking, cocktails were ready to be mixed and the champagne was chilled. After torrential downpours throughout the day the late afternoon had been and the early evening was clement, so drinks were able to be enjoyed in the garden.
As the champagne flowed guests were served canapés made by Chef Daksha Mistry, finalist and now guest judge in BBC’s MasterChef. The canapés were sublime as Daksha was told by guests as she joined them in the garden with husband Pravin.
We are then called to sit down for dinner, wines selected by Alistair Morrell aka The Wine Inspector are poured. H&C News publisher and host for the evening, Denis Sheehan gives a short introduction and thanks the team working on the night as well as all the companies who supported, full details of which are at the foot of this review.
The food is then served and served on beautiful frames, Genesis by Villeroy & Boch. In between starter and main course, we then hear more about Add Positivity from Sharon. Add Positivity support a number of charities and tonight the beneficiaries are the ‘Thokozani Family’. Thokozani is a safe place for at-risk children in Khayelisha Township, South Africa to learn and develop safely. The support is not only financial, Sharon and colleagues from Because XM travel and visit Thokozani spending time with the charity founders and the children.
After dinner guests were then treated to a Bollywood dancing display by KSPARK Entertainments and then encouraged to join in the dancing too, most did and it was huge fun.
There was a raffle followed by an auction for some great prizes supplied by supporters of the party/charity. Both the raffle and the auction were huge successes in raising money and sending many if not most guests’ home with something special.
The party then took to the garden again and drinks and conversations were enjoyed until the early hours of Sunday morning.
The party raised £3,351 for the ‘Thokozani Family’ which will go a long way in helping at-risk children in Khayelisha Township, South Africa to learn and develop safely.
So we would like to thank in alphabetical order…
Alistair Morrell aka The Wine Inspector
BEcause Brand Experience & Sharon Richey
Cyrus Todiwala OBE & Café Spice Namaste
Daksha Mistry & Dakshas Gourmet Catering
htm – Hotel Technology Management
Maison TESSENDIER & FILS, Cognac Park VS
Majella O’Connell – Pavlova & Cream
Thomas Leatherbarrow & Pastry Development
Villeroy & Boch and Nick Green
Winterhalter & KP Keith O’Brien
The party could not have taken place without all the supporters and sponsors and through the generosity of all that helped and the guests on the night.
So once again…Thanks All
