Bishop Auckland Town Council Mayor, Katie Eliot, welcomed dignitaries to Ambitions Restaurant, at Bishop Auckland College on Friday (29th April 2022). Mayor Eliot hosted a dinner as part of her fund raising activities during her year of office, where she is raising funds for the frailty ward at Bishop Auckland Hospital. ‘Ambitions’ was chosen as the venue to host a dinner to enable the college to showcase their work as well as to enable some fundraising activity for new murals to be painted in order to enhance the patients stay.
Mayor Cllr Katie Eliot, Mayor of Bishop Auckland said: “It was a wonderful evening. Myself and the other Mayor’s from across the county and region were very impressed, the food was exceptional and the programme of entertainment put together by the students was beautiful. The students involved are all very talented and I hope this experience gives them the confidence to be ambitious and reach for the stars.”
“I also wish to thank the businesses of the town who provided raffle and tombola prizes for the evening. We made over £240 from a blind raffle to win a ‘Basket of Bishop Auckland’ which had gift vouchers and prizes all sourced from the wonderful businesses of our town. ”
Catering and hospitality students prepared the dinner and served the guests, art students prepared table centre pieces with the theme of ‘Alice in Wonderland’, music and performing art students provided a varied entertainment programme for the forty guests, some of which had travelled across the region.
The evening raised over £500 towards the Mayors fundraising for the Hospital, where during her term she hopes to raise over £3,000 for the ward to help enhance the environment for patients, by having new murals painted to enhance the environment. Over ten businesses supported the evening with the kind provision of prizes for the raffle and tombola. The show stopper being a blind raffle for a basket of Bishop Auckland which contained gift vouchers and gifts from local companies.
The event enabled practical work experience opportunities for the students, which has been a huge barrier to them during the pandemic.
Judith Layfied, Vice Principle of the College said: “We were delighted to be approached the Town Council to provide the venue, catering and entertainment for the Mayor’s dinner. It was a fabulous evening and we are extremely proud of the student’s achievements both on the day and in preparing and rehearsing for the event. I am sure this will be the beginning of a wonderful relationship, bringing together the talent of Bishop Auckland College’s students and the work the Town Council do.”
A special thanks to Bridge Creative CIC who provided staffing for a wonderful ‘Mayor’s Mocktail Bar’. Ben Tinkler, Bridge Creative Said: “We were thrilled to be asked to provide the mocktail bar for the Mayors Dinner, it was a great opportunity for our apprentices who gained valuable work experience at the event.”
Thanks also go to Bishop Auckland Golf Club who loaned the college the table cloths for the evening.
