Barfoots to toast charity partnership with glittering Summer Ball
20 August 2013
Ball at exclusive Broadlands Estate marks Barfoots’ deepening support for Farm Africa
The leading fresh food supplier and processor, Barfoots of Botley, is delighted to announce that it will stage its first ever Summer Ball later this month.
Three hundred guests, including senior figures from across the UK food industry, will gather on Saturday 31 August for the exclusive black-tie event in the beautiful surroundings of the privately-owned Broadlands Estate near Romsey. Among the guests will be: Lady Brabourne who has very kindly offered use of the Broadlands Estate free of charge for the ball; Richard Macdonald, former Director General of the National Farmers Union and now Chairman of Farm Africa; and Judith Batchelar, Director of Brand at Sainsbury’s.
The ball is the first event of this scale to be staged by the West Sussex company. Employees came up with the idea as a way of strengthening its already impressive support for Farm Africa, a leading UK charity which is providing smallholder farmers in eastern Africa with skills, tools and training so they are able to grow more food and prevent hunger long before it becomes an emergency. All the money raised by the Barfoots Summer Ball will go towards Food for Good, an innovative campaign created by Farm Africa to bring together the food and hospitality industries to help tackle one of the world’s most pressing problems: hunger.
Celebrity auctioneer to help raise additional funds with array of exclusive prizes
The organising team at Barfoots has been working tirelessly to ensure the evening raises as much money as possible. An impressive array of unique prizes have been donated to be auctioned off live on the night, with the presenter of BBC TV’s Bargain Hunt, Johnathan Pratt, stepping up to act as auctioneer on the night. Some of the stand out one-off prizes include: In the Bullring, an original Pablo Picasso lithograph; a six nights all-expenses paid Tanzanian Safari; a day’s trout fishing on the Test, England’s most famous trout stream; and a day’s golf on the award-winning Vale Championship Course in Wales.
Celebration of Barfoots’ strong support for Farm Africa
Barfoots, which employs 250 people from across West Sussex, Hampshire and 30 other nations across the globe, has been supporting Farm Africa for some time. In 2011 Barfoots Managing Director Julian Marks joined a team of senior figures from across the UK food industry to climb Tanzania’s towering Mount Kilimanjaro, raising an astonishing sum of £250,000 for the charity. Next month Julian will rejoin many of the 2011 Kilimanjaro team for a daunting six-day trek in searing heat on wild, unchartered paths across the Great Rift Valley in the Tanzanian Highlands. Meanwhile, back at home Barfoots employees have regularly been pounding the streets of London to raise additional funds in the annual London Marathon.
Looking forward to the landmark event in the company’s history, Barfoots’ Managing Director, Julian Marks, said:
‘This is a wonderful occasion for the Barfoots team and people in the food, farming and wider agricultural industry to support the excellent work that Farm Africa does to build sustainable communities in Africa’
And Farm Africa’s Chief Executive Nigel Harris added:
“We are hugely grateful to all our friends at Barfoots for their unstinting enthusiasm and support for our work, culminating in this month’s extraordinarily generous hosting of a summer ball for us. Our evolving partnership with Barfoots demonstrates how the food industry can be a real force for good in helping us to tackle the global challenge of a billion people going hungry.”
More details about Farm Africa’s Food for Good initiative, including how to donate or to become a sponsor, are available here: http://www.farmafrica.org/foodforgood
Ends
Images of Barfoots Managing Director Julian Barfoots during the Kilimanjaro Challenge of 2011 are available on request. Images from this month’s Summer Ball on 31 August will be made available to the media after the event.
For further information, please contact the Farm Africa Press Office:
Matt Whitticase, 020 7067 1237 / mattheww@farmafrica.org
Laura Oakley, 020 7067 1252 /laurao@farmafrica.org
Notes to Editor:
About Barfoots of Botley
Barfoots grow, process, pack and market a range of semi-exotic produce. Established in the early 1970s by Peter Barfoot, the family business has grown to employ over 200 people. Existing customers include the major supermarkets within the UK and leading national restaurant chains.
The business follows a holistic approach which enables a successful balance between a sustainable, cutting edge and environmentally considerate farming system with the production of high quality, commercially viable, fresh food.
Find out more about Barfoots at www.barfoots.co.uk
About Farm Africa
Farm Africa supports farmers living at subsistence level, constantly at risk of crop failure, to build food and income security so that they can grow a better and reliable future for their families.
By focusing on ‘climate smart’ agricultural and forestry techniques, building market links and adding value to production, Farm Africa unleashes the entrepreneurial abilities of the farmers and rural communities they work with.
This is the time to turn challenge into opportunity for African farmers. Farm Africa believes passionately that smallholders can and will play a key role in achieving rural prosperity in Africa.
About Food for Good
The Barfoots Summer Ball is part of Food for Good, a Farm Africa initiative that is bringing together the food and hospitality industry to tackle one of the biggest challenges facing the world today: hunger. You can find out more about Food for Good here: www.farmafrica.org/foodforgood
In addition, Farm Africa is the chosen charity for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards 2013, sponsored by San Pellegrino and Acqua Panna.
