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

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. 

Like most businesses in the industry it’s just far too busy in December for us to have the annual Christmas ‘knees up’ so we always wait until January when things are a little less hectic.  We always have a theme, in the past anything from Little Britain to Masked Balls, but this year it was “Bollywood”.  Dressing up was optional but Bhindi wearing was compulsory!  We dressed the restaurant and The Residents’ Lounge in clashing colours, swathed pillars and fringing.  We usually have a stand-up buffet down in the Residents’ Lounge, this year we decided to spoil ourselves and enjoy the restaurant. Even more of a treat for the kitchen was that we ordered all of the food in!  The London Carriage Works got a takeaway!  Master Chef on Renshaw street were brilliant and the food was superb. We have annual awards every year for: The funniest, the most considerate, most hardworking and of course the “hotties”.  Here are some of the winners.  

After our wonderful feast we all descended to the Residents’ Lounge and danced until the early hours.

We’ve obviously done a bit of research and know that The London Carriage Works originally, as the name suggests, housed a coach builder, and since then the building has been home to various companies such as booksellers, telephone companies and more recently a furniture depositary.   

Some of our colleagues can remember the furniture store 'AJ Buckinghams', our Sue Ainger used to live nearby in the late 1980’s and said “I used to pass most days and barely even noticed the building, (which is quite shocking as it’s so beautiful), except for an overall impression of an abandoned space with a few dusty old card board cut outs on display in the windows”. 

We are wondering if any of our website visitors can remember the building before we moved in?  Do you have any interesting recollections or historical facts?  Please share your memories with us by clicking on the comments option below.

They’ve done it! Orla and Sarah were beautiful and brave all the way down; Dave was cool and sat on a ledge to wait for Mary who was petrified.  Sue, our Outside Catering Manager, and Bernie, our Patisserie Chef, were there to meet all the guys at the bottom.  They brought ice and glasses to make Negronis, (the tense and terrified Mary’s favourite aperitif), accompanied by Bernie’s famous and perfect Victoria and berry sponge! A fun day was had by all and the team has managed to raise around £600 for The Stroke Society.