Blog. Taking Hospitality Action nationwide: teamwork and philanthropy, Northern-style…

August 06, 2018

Guest Blog by Kevin Haygarth

People often ask me questions about Hospitality Action, which allows me to stand on my soapbox and wax lyrically with pride about our amazing charity. I tell them all of the stuff that we do and that it’s not just about chefs!

My family (usually my mother), asks me about being involved with HA, and about being the designated Chair for the Northern Fundraising Board in this non-lofty, non-elevated, and non-ivory tower, yet fabulous position… (I think she still pictures me in school shorts and an elasticated tie!).

She inquires, “When it comes to board leadership what puts you above the rest?” The answer to that (for me) is simple – “nothing”.

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In my view, a good Chair works with great people. People who are doers. Folk who want to make a difference and take ownership of tasks, and who all share the ability to see the bigger picture and the overall mission and vision. And that’s what we are. We are a tightly-knit and diverse group of professional hospitality people acting as one team, investing our time and energy to generate successful results and funds to help others. Hospitality people meet, greet, entertain, liaise, interact, nurture, serve, and form professional bonds with companies, organisations, and individuals, and I believe that one of the common values that all of the people on the Board in the North share is that we are all ‘relationship magicians!’ We are only as good as the wonderful people we connect with and build warm, open, and honest relationships with.

We are fortunate to attend some amazing fundraising events, and we have huge support from the team at Head Office and from our regional co-ordinator, and we are building relationships across a plethora of towns and cities which spreads the word, widens the net, and affords me lots more emails!

We sometimes ask tough questions of one another and indeed of the organisation, but it’s always done through the lens of helping. We all do different things in our day-to-day lives and we all have varying skill sets which allow us to press forward and achieve great things, although we have yet to find a board colleague willing to whittle animal shapes out of soap for prizes for the raffle!

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We are proud and honoured to be hosting and celebrating some of the region’s culinary talents at our Northern Lights Gala Dinner, on 1 October at the Lowry Hotel in Salford.

Five dream-team chefs are coming together in the kitchen to create an extravaganza of dishes to tantalise our taste-buds.

The kitchen team:

Starter: James Mackenzie, The Pipe & Glass Inn

Fish course: Ellis Barrie, The Marram Grass (Great British Menu Finalist 2017)

Main course: Gary Usher, Sticky Walnut

Cheese Savoury: Steven Smith, Freemasons at Wiswell

Dessert: Adam Reid, The French at The Midland Hotel.

I’ll leave you with this, which kind of sums us up:

"If we were Farmers in’t North, some of us would pick’th cabbages, some of us would feed’th animals, some of us would milk’th cows, and some of us would do’th paperwork!"