Pictured Above: Director of Charters 6th Form - Ms. Ollie Morrison and the Charters 6th Form Volunteers, With Rotary Ascot President - Hugo Winkler, President Elect -Vanita Winkler, Rotarian-Tony Love and RBWM Cllr Christine Bateson (Lead Member for Ascot&Sunnings) & Cllr John Story.

ROTARY CROCI – ‘PURPLE FOR POLIO’ CAMPAIGN| CHARTERS 6th FORMERS PLANT 1,000s OF BULBS BY SUNNINGHILL ROUNDABOUT

Director of Sixth Form, Ollie Morrison explained that many of the sixth formers do volunteer work - some within the School and others on community projects such as this planting of 5,000 purple crocus corms, donated by the RHS. Cllr Bateson had arranged for the Highway land, for which the Royal Borough is responsible, to be available for the croci. The 9 students worked hard on the planting, on November 22nd, on ground beside the roundabout at the Church Lane/Sunninghill High Street junction. The flowers will all be purple, as a visual reminder of the international Rotary campaign to eradicate polio.

Pictured: L – R - Mr Tayo Johnson, Lorna Ponti and Andy Field

‘Lunch4Life’ committee’s continuous donations to Breast Clinic at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals

Members of the ‘Lunch4Life’ committee presented a cheque for £16,000 to Consultant Breast Surgeon, Mr Tayo Johnson, at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust on 10^th November 2017 and since 2016 have given a total of £28,860 to the Breast Care Unit. Through their auspices, the Breast Unit also had a donation of £75,000 to purchase necessary equipment. These are just part of the many substantial charitable donations the fundraising group have given to the Ashford and St Peter’s breast service over the years. 

The ‘Lunch4Life’ committee was set up by Lorna Ponti in 2007 and aims to raise awareness of the disease and funds towards the purchase of new equipment.

The Pupils of St Francis School  Catholic Primary School in South Ascot brought in food for advent to help those less fortunate at Christmas, rather than treating themselves this year. They held a reverse advent calendar to assist those who need help with food over Christmas, which they donated to a foodbank. They have been bringing in items of food regularly since the beginning of the month.

Head teacher Caroline Johnson said, "it is a tangible demonstration of the Christian values taught at the school and a great pleasure to see how keen the children were to think of others at this time of year."

Janet Bailey from Crowthorne foodbank, visited the school to thank the children and explain how their contribution will help the community.

MACDONALD BERYSTEDE HOTEL ASCOT      TWITTER - @MacBerystede

A new destination restaurant has officially launched at the stunning four-star Macdonald Berystede Hotel & Spa in Ascot. 

The very attractive new restaurant describes itself as 'casual fine dining' so that mixed parties of 'foodies' and the plain hungry, can dine together with ease. Whatever your choice though, you can be assured of first class, fresh ingredients and first class wine. 

The 90-seater, Acanthus Restaurant offers a relaxed approach to fine dining, serving both gourmet dishes, and light bites, which guests can enjoy throughout the day surrounded by views of stunning manicured gardens.

The menu, has been crafted by head chef Ramneek Chugh in collaboration with Macdonald Hotels & Resorts Regional Chef Raj Chakraborty, a well-known figure in the industry who has worked with several Michellen-starred chefs throughout his career. It uses the finest ingredients, many of them locally-sourced, to create flavoursome lunches, sumptuous dinners, tempting light dishes and decadent afternoon teas.

Chefs at Acanthus select only the best Scottish beef from renowned suppliers Scotbeef, British lamb and wild white fish, sourcing organic vegetables and dairy products where possible. Guests can indulge on an assortment of dishes from hand-shucked Cornish Oysters, to Venison Terrine with Apple Chutney, Wild Mushrooms & Winter Truffle Risotto, Rib of Beef on the Bone and Gratinated Scallops from Orkney served in a White Wine Sauce with Gruyere Cheese, as well as perennial favourite Beer Battered Haddock and Chips with Crushed Peas.

  Visit:  www.papplewick.org.uk   

Children’s author Sarah Baker gave a talk to boys in Years 6, 7 and 8 at Papplewick School, Ascot on the evening of Thursday, 9^th November. Sarah visited the school last year when her first novel, “Through the Mirror Door,” was published and had promised to return when its prequel: "Eloise Undercover" was published in September this year.

“Eloise Undercover” is an adventure story set in Nazi-occupied France in World War II, full of surprises and twists and turns. She said: “In writing this book, I did a lot of research on the internet, spent quality time at the Imperial War Museum, asked my Dad many, many questions (he’s an unofficial WW2 expert) and read a fair few books.”

The boys were enthralled by Sarah's description of the work of spies and enjoyed trying to guess the meaning of her "spy phraseology.”

She read a short extract from the book and signed copies for the boys.

As work gets underway in earnest, on refurbishing the historic Royal Foresters, Oakman Inns & Restaurants, operators of 20 contemporary pubs across the West Midlands and Home Counties, and owners of Royal Foresters in Ascot, are celebrating after being commended for their commitment to training and skills excellence by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal at a ceremony at St James’s Palace in London, on November 2nd.

 Oakman Inns & Restaurants is one of 40 organisations (and the only pub group) honoured with this year’s Princess Royal Training Award for creating lasting impact by successfully linking their skills development needs to business performance. All 40 recipients demonstrated that training has a significant impact on productivity and business success. They were drawn from across the public and private sector, from a broad range of areas including hospitality, healthcare, finance and manufacturing.

The award recognises the success of Oakman Inns’ online training academy, Oakmanology, which was developed to support and retain their growing number of staff. Using a blend of on-the-job training, role-playing and online interactivity, the programme has produced tangible results in career path development and has improved staff retention by 43%. The ability to develop multi-skills linked to career development and training achievement incentive schemes has also proved a winner for Oakman’s staff.