Care home chef’s cooking marathon

A veteran of the show, having manned his refreshments stall for over twelve years, Dickie Dore held his annual ‘NAAFI’ stall at the Shoreham Airshow – affectionately named after the organisation in the armed forces which provides provisions for serving personnel.

The stall was supported by representatives from Unilever Food Solutions, who donated PG Tips tea for the stand and a selection of PG Tips mugs, biscuit barrels, tea-cloths and metal tea-trays to sell on the stand.

Dickie spent the weekend cooking up a storm to ensure volunteers, staff and visitors were well-fed at the show. Over the two days, Dickie and his fellow chefs John Cleves, Simon Lawrence and Unilever Development Chef, Paul Wright, flipped around 3,000 burgers, turned 1,500 sausages and served 1,000 bacon, egg and sausage baps between them, while chip-frying duo Peter and Carol Kimmins cooked up 180 bags of chips! Meanwhile Pat and Ian Cook used almost 500 gallons of water serving hot and cold drinks from the stand.

The whole event was a real team effort, with Dickie supported by his wife, Helen, the cashiers were Janet Goldsbrough-Jones and Kenneth Dorewith, and Alan Jones supplied the tent and made sure that everything ran smoothly on the day.

Not forgetting Merlin Jones who was responsible for ensuring that the 250 gallon military water bowser was topped up and ready for action and Hilary Hadley who supported the stand on behalf of Unilever Food Solutions.

Rising at 5am each day, and often finishing after 10.30pm, the team worked tirelessly to ensure no member of staff went hungry from breakfast to supper and to raise as much money as possible for RAFA.

Dickie said: “We are delighted to have raised such an impressive amount for RAFA this year! I’d like to say a big thank you to all my team – I couldn’t have done it without them.

“RAFA provides welfare support to all serving and ex-serving personnel and their dependants. At Sussexdown, it’s a cause close to our hearts, as many of our residents served in the RAF themselves. Every year, we work hard to raise money for the charity, which is dependent on donations and fundraising.

“We hope to raise even more next year!”

Report and picture contributed by Steph Muir.