FINEST FEAST IS BEST WAY TO BLOW BONUS
A ONCE in a lifetime event raising money for three war veterans’ charities held a glamorous promotional evening last night, with some of the best chefs in the country promising to lay on one of the finest feasts the City has ever seen.
The evening, dubbed Square Mile Salute, will be held at the legendary Guildhall on 10 February and will bring together nine of the country’s top chefs.
Master of Ceremonies for the night will be Brian Turner, chairman of the Academy of Culinary Arts, who has worked in restaurants including Claridge’s, the Savoy Grill and most recently Brian Turner Mayfair at the Millennium Hotel.
He told City A.M., which is proud to be official media partner to the event, that the evening will be the perfect opportunity for bankers to “reinvest their bonuses in three hugely worthwhile charities”.
He said: “Forces who have been injured were fighting to protect their country; when they return it is their country’s turn to protect them.
“People who work in the City are in a unique position to help them through events like this.
“And it will be worth their while. The Academy of Culinary Arts gets accused of being elitist, and we are a little bit proud of that. Gordon Ramsay may disagree but that’s a different matter.”
The event will also auction off two specially commissioned paintings by artist Andrew Vicari, who was himself involved in the first Gulf War.
Director of fundraising at the Royal British Legion, Russell Thompson, whose charity is one of those benefitting from the night, told City A.M. how the money raised by the event will be spent helping veterans.
He said: “We have committed £50m to work with what we call the Afghanistan Generation, helping veterans get back on their feet – often literally. “We will be opening four new personnel centres and a new ‘battle back’ (sports and adventurous training) facility for this specific purpose. These events are incredibly important for that and we know people in the City are incredibly generous and important to our cause.”
City A.M. managing director Lawson Muncaster also urged City workers to dig deep for the cause and snap up the last of the tables. To book yours go to: www.squaremilesalute.com.