NEWS RELEASES
Let music be the local food of love
3rd August 2004
CHRIST’S Hospital School will trumpet local food producers at a special concert held as part of the Horsham District Food & Drink Festival on Tuesday 21 September.
A locally produced ploughman’s lunch supplied by nearby Westons Farm Shop will whet concertgoers’ appetite for a range of pastoral pieces played by young musicians as part of Christ’s Hospital music department’s popular Tuesday lunchtime recital series.
“Music and food are ideal partners and we hope the recital - which allows us to support our local food producers - will give a unique flavour of the Sussex countryside,” said Carol Blackwell, Marketing Officer for Christ’s Hospital, near Horsham.
The lunch will include award winning Sussex cheeses, dry cured Sussex ham, salads grown on the Christ’s Hospital estate and locally baked bread. It will be the first time Westons has supplied the school – although several staff are already firm customers.
Louisa Exwood, who opened the shop last year on the tenanted beef, sheep and arable farm run by her husband David, said it had given them a much needed boost after several tough years in agriculture.
“We opened in 2003 and by April this year we had trebled the size to meet demand,” said Louisa. “We grow our own fruit and vegetables and rear beef and sheep, sourcing as much as we can locally and then working outwards to find other suppliers.
“What concerns customers most is traceability - knowing where things come from and how they are produced. We try to learn as much as we can about our suppliers and any questions we can’t answer, we find out.”
Festival organiser Chris Baister of Horsham District Council, said: “We are delighted to have been able to bring the farm shop and Scolarest, the school’s caterers, together and hope it will be the first of many such collaborations. Catering is potentially a huge market for local producers - more food is now consumed outside of the home than in it. But chefs often struggle to find suppliers who can provide imaginative, high quality local solutions to their menu planning. One of our long term aims is to bridge that gap.”
The Festival Lunchtime Recital is free; however tickets need to be booked in advance for the ploughman’s lunch, priced at £4.50 per person and are already on sale. Bookings can be made by calling (01403) 247407.
Westons will also be conducting farm tours on Sunday 19 September while throughout the Festival, which runs from 11 September – 3 October ; shoppers can enter a competition to win a £50 voucher to spend in the shop.
Brought together by Horsham District Council to support producers and retailers, the annual Horsham District Food & Drink Festival highlights the unique quality of food and drink produced in and around the District.
For further details, call (01403) 215542 or click here.
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CONTACT: Richard Morris, Communications Manager
(01403) 215549