London School of Hospitality and Tourism Alumni Fundraising Dinner

On Wednesday 12 March 2014 the London School of Hospitality and Tourism and the UWL Alumni Relations Office welcomed 60 alumni and friends to dine at the School’s award winning training restaurant; Pillar’s.  Guests were greeted with a champagne reception including a musical performance by Ollie Stokes, a third year piano student at the University’s London College of Music. 

Our MC for the evening was Alistair Telfer, Chair of the UWL Alumni Board and Secretary and Chief Executive at the Oxford and Cambridge Club.  Alistair opened the evening by thanking everyone for attending and briefly reminding everyone that whilst the evening was an opportunity to reconnect with old friends it was also hoped that those attending would help to support the School’s students today by supporting the Alumni Bursary Fund.  Last year’s dinner raised £2,000 in support of our students today and Alistair challenged guests to help us to beat last year’s total. 

Head of The London School of Hospitality and Tourism, Professor David Foskett, and Vice-Chancellor of UWL, Professor Peter John, joined guests for a four course meal prepared by UWL alumnus and Honorary Professor of the School, Steve Munkley.  Steve was joined in the kitchen by a team of the School’s students.  Tracing his passion for food back to cooking with his mother who was a school cook, Steve was the first boy to study cookery at Southall Grammar School.  Today as the award-wining Executive Chef at the Royal Garden Hotel, Steve’s remit includes the elegant Park Terrace Restaurant, and the highly acclaimed Min Jiang Restaurant, as well as 10 banqueting rooms catering for up to 550 people and 24-hour room service. 

Steve introduced guests to the menu which took inspiration from the banqueting menu at the Royal Garden Hotel, and began with a White bean and smoked garlic veloute accompanied by cheese and onion gnocchi.  The second course was a Cannelloni of Scottish salmon, served with a basil pesto, which was followed by Tournedos of roasted fillet of beef and braised oxtail served with a port jus.  Guests enjoy a real treat for dessert with a Passion fruit cheesecake served with a flour free chocolate cake and passion fruit coulis, with the meal rounded off with a selection of petit fours. 

Professor David Foskett was invited to draw winning names for the raffle and 4 lucky guests won prizes gifted by generous alumni, including an Indian cookery course at Brilliant cookery school, lunch for two at the Michel starred Waterside Inn and a tour of Buckingham Palace.  Alongside the raffle Professor Foskett also hosted an impromptu auction for dinner for six at a location of your choosing, which was generously donated by our guest chef Steve Munkley. 

The evening was a fantastic success, raising an extremely impressive £5,000 in support of students at the school; the funding will help to support the next generation of hospitality professionals and ensure continuing excellence within the profession.  The evening came to a close with a big round of applause for Steve and the hard working team of students who delivered fantastic service and exceptional food on the night. Thank you to everyone who attended the event and extended their support to The London School of Hospitality and Tourism. 

If you have not had an opportunity to support the London School of Hospitality and Tourism Alumni Bursary Fund and would like to make a donation towards supporting our students you can do so here:

 

A selection of images from the evening can be seen below:
(Photographer: Jody Beckett, second year photography student at the University)