CELEBRITIES Nigella Lawson and Kirsty Young sparkled at a glittering fundraising event to help raise funds for Positive Action on Cancer’s ‘Listening Ear’ appeal, which was hosted by Babington House. The event raised around £20,000 for the charity.
Mary Taylor, director for PAC, introduced the evening and spoke about how the service founded by Jill Miller in 1994 has gone on to provide essential counselling for so many people affected by cancer in the area.
Mary said, “It was a wonderful opportunity to speak about the work of the charity to so many people in such wonderful surroundings – our patron Nick Jones made us feel really welcome, it was a truly memorable evening.”
Nigella chose the menu which included dragon wings, butternut rocket and pine nut salad for starters; the main course was hearty beer braised pork knuckles served with red cabbage with pomegranates; desert was a scrumptious rhubarb crumble and custard; and coffee was served with hand baked chocolate chip cookies.
Kirsty Young, presenter of Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, interviewed Nigella about her food loves and later invited questions from the floor. When asked about her Desert Island dishes Nigella topped the list with her own potato skins and guacamole, she also chose clams with spaghetti (without the tomato) and couldn’t decide between chicken or steak. She confessed to being unable to choose between chips, mashed or roast potatoes and said she would have to take all three to her desert island
The evening was rounded off with a raffle for the charity which raised over £1,000, with prizes from local PAC supporters including Bath Rugby Club and Angela Yeoman. A surprise offer during the evening was 10 days in a holiday home in The Bahamas for eight people, which was auctioned for over £6,000. The evening’s events raised approximately £20,000.
Mary Taylor said, ‘We want to thank Nick Jones and everybody else at Babington who worked so hard on the evening and the money raised will go a long way towards reaching our target for the Listening Ear Appeal.”