Hampton Court Palace – Family Fundraising Event

Considering the Livery’s fondness for fellowship and fine dining it is surprising that a visit to one of the world’s most historic industrial kitchens, which was engaged in feeding one of Britains most famous gourmands, had not been organised before. Freeman Wendy Hardiman-Evans describes how the gap was filled.

The Company held a family fun and fundraising day at Hampton Court Palace in May. It was fortunate to have a dry(ish) day and many Cooks and their families supported a fabulous day out.

The day was held in the Garden Room, where everyone gathered in the morning for coffee and biscuits. With its own garden area, it offered a very special private space to be together and mingle amongst friends.

The Master had arranged full access to the Palace with a private tour, our group expertly guided by the very knowledgeable Jo, who first explained that the Palace building comprises two major period styles, Tudor and Baroque.

Construction of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Wolsey, the chief minister of Henry VIII. In 1529, the Palace was appropriated by the King when Wolsey failed to bring about the King’s divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

We started our tour very aptly, visiting the vast Kitchens, before proceeding to the Great Hall, the Watching Room and the magnificent gardens, as well as one of my personal favourites, the Chocolate Room. We learnt that in times of Henry VIII, they ate a diet of 85 per cent meat and Henry had only one female chef who made his favourite ‘Maids of honour’ tart. The kitchens became an efficient food factory serving 1,600 meals to an average of 600-800 people a day.

After the tour, we returned to the Garden Room where we enjoyed a fantastic tea with a glass of fizz. The tasty scones were made by Freeman Nick Gunyon, and ingredients were donated by Cooks-sponsored Westminster Kingsway College. The tables were adorned by beautiful herb planters made and donated by Liveryman Anne Pierce, and the herbs grown and donated by the Clink Gardens.

There was much fun with some fundraising quiz trivia – a quiz on herbs and guessing games (number of sweets in a jar and weight of the cake). The stunning regal cake was made and donated by the young women at Lakefield College, two of whom were randomly selected to join their tutor, Frankie Strinati, at the event. The six-layered, lemon sponge cake with bunting and a royal crown had the chefs among us calculating the weight of the ingredients to help guess the answer.

Later, a fundraising raffle with so many fabulous prizes created a real ticket sales buzz. Some of the herb planters were also auctioned off. A huge thank you to all those who donated raffle prizes for the event.

We were entertained during the afternoon by The Royal Marines Association Concert Band who had our toes tapping (and a few of the younger generation dancing) with music from many genres.

The day was so much fun. We were fed, watered, and entertained in a truly magnificent setting. We raised an amazing figure of more than £1,200 on the day from the quizzes and raffle due to everyone’s generosity.

A huge thank you to the Master for her inspired idea to get us together for a unique family event, and for organising the day. She had a strong band of willing helpers – family members including her husband Neil, who supported her throughout, and brother-in-law Ian, who was our sound engineer for the day; Cooks’ members who created and organised where needed (even I did not escape her arm twisting, but as my life-long friend to be honest it didn’t take much); and our charities and supporters who donated their time, goods and efforts to the event.

In addition to the amazing fund-raising day described above, Anne Pierce with some help from the Master, organised the online silent auction to further raise funds for our charity beneficiaries.