Mr Stephen Doherty and Mr Paul Askew with glasses half empty!! 

A good night had last thursday for Paul's 30 years at the Pass. 

The LFADF was a great weekend for meeting friends and tasting some great dishes and that was just for us grabbing time to have a look at all our neighbours. 

Here is a picture of Bernadette Bennett who has been our patisserie chef for many years and is now going solo with her own company 'Tiffin to You'.  Fortunatly for us - as her cake is divine - she joins us on special occasions and lets us taste her latest confections.

Joanne and Ellie have just completed a week of work experience with us at hope street hotel and The London Carriage Works.  Their final task was to write a blog all about their experiences, here it is!  

Joanne and Ellie’s Blog. 

hope street hotel.  Wow.  What an amazing week.  From two young girls from The Blue Coat School to fully fledged workers!  

This week we’ve experienced the history of the magnificent hope street, down to the soul of the hotel, the housekeeping department.  First day of work, we arrived 20 minutes early to ensure we could get stuck in straight away, but ended up spending the first 30 minutes of the day sitting in the book room, due to Mary’s (creative director) late arrival.  The first day consisted of a lot of exercise walking up and down hope street, retrieving very important information from local tourist attractions.  After lunch Mary let us loose on certain hotel rooms, we were like two kids in a sweet shop.  Although we got lost multiple times we found our way around, and took our first step into the room on the first floor *GASP*.  We had never seen anything so perfect, from the crisp white Egyptian cotton sheets, the mood setting lights, to the gorgeous hair and body products in the bathroom (which are complimentaryJ).  

Throughout the remainder of the week we typed up the minutes from a meeting, which was quite a challenge due to Sue Ainger’s (executive events manager) handwriting!  We watched and learned how to strip and clean a room too perfection, and had a grand tour of the staff room, the offices and the nationally famous kitchen of The London Carriage Works.  We were introduced to the brains behind the scenes, from receptionists and housekeepers, to Chef (Paul Askew), who not only were very friendly and treated us like VIP’s but also treated us like colleagues.  Even the scent of the hotel was divine and that immediate whiff as you walk through the glass doors makes you aware that you have just entered a very special place.  

We could not have wished for a better place to do our work experience, we have both learnt and enjoyed the time we have spent at hope street hotel, and will miss it and the fantastic staff.  We will be back to visit soon and to eat more croissants! Thank you!!

This weekend saw the fifth Wirral Food and Drink festival take place at Claremont Farm.  Part of Wirral Council’s Year of Food, this years festival boasted more than 100 producers and stalls and attracting around 30,000 visitors, the biggest and best so far.  

Exhibitors and stalls showcased the finest specialist foods from England and North Wales including crumbly cheese from Cheshire, delicious lamb from North Wales, Sarsaparilla from Lancashire, coffee from Birkenhead, homemade cakes from Burton, and locally brewed real ale.  Visitors were treated to chef demonstrations, a mini version of Wirral’s Farmer’s market, live music and cookery workshops.Our very own Paul Askew and the North West Young Chef of the Year Tom Lee demonstrated on Bank Holiday Monday. Paul cooked fillet of turbot with saffron and golden beetroot risotto, poached oysters and girolle.  Tom cooked Anglesey mussel and panchetta ravioli with leeks and micro salad.

Paul said “It was a great buzz to see all the foodies gathered together, well done Claremont Farm!” 

The Wirral Autistic Society is Hope Street Hotel’s nominated charity so we were delighted to help with their Ken Dodd Literary Lunch last Friday.  54 friends of the Wirral Autistic Society had a private lunch on the Fifth and a talk/joke session with the hilarious Ken Dodd.  With sides aching the group enjoyed a bespoke menu created by Paul Askew which even included a ‘jam butty’ pre dessert course in honor of Ken. The lunch along with a raffle and silent auction raised in excess of £2,500 which will all go towards the building of a respite centre at the Wirral Autistic Society in Raby Mere.   

Ken Dodd and Rick Myers (Fundraising Officer for the WAS) with the silent auction prize - a bronze bust of Ken Dodd created by Rick.

Paul Askew with Rick Myers

Ken Dodd with guests

Despite the volcanic ash cloud, our latest winemaker’s dinner was a huge success, although the odds were stacked against us... 

Firstly we had a group of 15 guests coming from Belgium who were grounded.  Then due to the no flight situation all of the American east coast lobster hadn’t made it over, so the French and Spanish had bought out all of our British stocks.  The one plus side was that Paul Boutinot, who had recently sent his regrets having been called away to his vineyards in South Africa, was able to host the dinner again.      

At the last minute the ash cloud lifted, the Belgians made it and I managed to get my hands on some delicious Cornish lobster.  Paul Boutinot did jet off to South Africa, but he left us in the delightful hands of his master sommelier Nigel Wilkinson.   

We had a picture of Nigel last time so here’s picture of the Fifth in all it’s glory! 

We are delighted to be hosting Liverpool’s Cafe Scientifiqué which is a forum for promoting public engagement with science. The first meeting of 2010 took place on Tuesday 9^th February and got off to a great start with a talk by Marco Bertamini from the Department of Psychology at Liverpool University. It was entitled: Naïve physics: understanding how things work from everyday visual experience. One of the phenomena Marco Bertamini talked about was the 'Venus Effect' – how we incorrectly perceive what's going on when we look at people looking into mirrors.

The second meeting took place on Tuesday 9^th March and was given by Gareth Stratton, Professor of Paediatric Exercise Science, Liverpool John Moores University, entitled: The road to an active and healthy childhood, from fitness to fatness and back again. It was another excellent talk. Gareth Stratton's department is doing cutting edge research into the obesity problem among young children. He presented the group with some frightening data as well as saying what is required to prevent obesity amongst the young.

The next meeting takes place on Tuesday 13^th April.  There will be another speaker from Liverpool University's Department of Psychology, Sonia Tucci. Her talk is entitled: Appetite regulation and obesity. This should give us another view of the obesity problem that is prevalent in our society.There will be three further speakers and that will take Café Scientifique up to July. Topics include athletic preparation for the London Olympics in 2012, exploding stars and issues about ageing.

For the meeting on Tuesday 8^th June, the group will be moving from their usual meeting place on the ground floor up to the Fifth floor. The talk is being given by Mike Bode, Director of the Astrophysics Research Institute and Professor of Astrophysics, Liverpool John Moores University, and is entitled: Stars that go bang in the night. The view from the fifth floor is spectacular and will provide an appropriate back-drop for this meeting. 

The meetings are free and take place every second Tuesday of the month (7.30pm start).

Details of all the meetings can be found at: http://sites.google.com/site/liverpoolcafescientifique/

Please contact Michael Jackman, mjcafsci@talktalk.net, if intending to attend as places may be limited.   

Champagne Lallier produces 300,000 bottles a year, distributed all around the world, well we had 10 of them at TLCW last night.  And if we could afford it some of us would have loved to buy the remaining 299,990 bottles! From now on I shall only be drinking Grande Cruz Zero Dosage, it will be on every; birthday, Christmas, new house and get well list, its worth re doing my wedding vows just to get it on that list too!! 

Sue Ainger Executive Events Manager

We were approached buy the Alumni Relations Team at the University of Liverpool to see if we could help out with taking a London Carriage Works Afternoon Tea to a very special graduate of The University of Liverpool.  Colonel James Bryson is one of the University’s oldest graduates and celebrated his 97^th Birthday on February 4^th.

Colonel Bryson studied Law at the University of Liverpool at Graduated in 1932. Since Graduating he held positions including chairman of the Medical Appeal Tribunal, Senior District Registrar of the High Court of Justice and Liverpool Admiralty Registrar, president of the Liverpool Law Society, chairman of the Mayor's Poppy Fund, president of the North West Cancer Research Fund, organiser of the annual Remembrance Day commemorations at the Lime Street war memorial, and Commissioner of Taxes from 1968 to 1988.

One of his most startling stories was when he was presiding judge over a bankruptcy trial of infamous Liverpool nightclub owner George Wilkie in 1960. During the proceedings the accused took out a gun and shot at the Colonel several times injuring several people in the court and piercing the portrait hanging behind him. The Colonel was able to wrestle the assailant to the ground and for this act he received the Queens Commendation for Bravery.

Amongst memories he shared at his special ‘Afternoon Tea’ were his meeting with the Pope, and his many meetings with the Queen (two meetings of which ended in disaster, the first with a streaker barging between them and the second with floods at Buckingham Palace, after which he received a personal letter apologising for his bad luck and inviting him again to the palace), his personal connections to the University, and his work with many charities including presiding over the North West Cancer Research Fund, and working alongside Ken Dodd. Colonel Bryson is also a Papal Knight and a Knight of the Round Table. 

Of course we were delighted to help.  Our Pastry chef Bernie designed the menu for the Colonel and included one of her legendary Victoria sponge cakes which we know went down a treat.