Why Mitchells Dairy Help our Heroes

Last month, we threw our weight behind the Help for Heroes Colossal Cake Sale and we are delighted to say that, thanks to the generosity of our customers, we raised £153.07 for the charity.

Following that terrific effort, we were once again delighted to support Help for Heroes at last weekend's Cocktails, Clothes and Cakes event at Meldrum House Country Hotel and Golf Course.

Set amidst beautiful countryside just a few short miles from Aberdeen, The 4 Gold Star Meldrum is one of Scotland's finest luxury hotels - and fortunately for everyone in attendance, the sun shone throughout.

It was a lovely afternoon with fashion shows by local businesses, a fantastic cocktail reception and afternoon tea, and the event raised well in excess of £3300 for Help for Heroes, which is a magnificent effort by everyone involved.

Help for Heroes do some amazing work for our wounded soldiers and their families, and we wanted to let you know why Mitchells Dairy support this thoroughly deserving charity.

As well as other friend and family connections with the forces, Judy's step-aunt, Louise Bennet, has three sons who are currently serving, or have previously been in the Royal Marines, and she sends thousands of buns to British troops in Afghanistan.

Louise has dispatched around 68,000 buns, and currently sends out 450 per week to 12 addresses; 11 in Afghanistan and one to Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Five of the current dispatches go to 2 SCOTS, who are in various areas of Afghanistan. 

You can read more about 'Louby Lou’s Buns of Mass Production', the nickname given to them by Terry Wogan after she sent him a batch when he did the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show, in this article in The Daily Mail.

You can also watch Louise talking about her 'Buns of Mass Production' on STV's The Hour, with Darius Campbell and Michelle McManus below.

It is through Louise that we got to hear of Help for Heroes, and since then, Judy's dad and step mum have held two garden parties in recent years to fundraise, which has raised over £15,000 for the charity.

So, to cut a long story short, this is why we jumped at the chance to be part of Meldrum House’s event and take part in the Help for Heroes Colossal Cake Sale!

We would love to hear your stories about why you support Help for Heroes, or indeed, why you support any particular charity. As usual, you can let us know on this blog post, or on Facebook or Twitter.

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Why We're Supporting The RNLI

Following on from our latest blog post about our #foodiefundraiser in aid of RNLI, we thought we would take the time to tell you a little bit more about why exactly we decided to organise this particular event in aid of the RNLI - an independent charity, funded by voluntary donations.

The Inverurie RNLI fundraising branch is one of the smaller in Scotland, but, for its size, is very successful. In the last five years, it has raised over £40,000 to support the lifeboat search and rescue service. Though this seems like a lot of money, it is a very small contribution to the cost of the service.

Keeping a modern fleet of lifeboats ever-ready to go to the rescue from 236 stations is an expensive business. Add to that crew training, running a lifeguard service on more than 180 popular beaches and campaigning for water safety, and the pounds start to add up.

It costs around £385,000 a day to run the RNLI, all of which is generously donated by the public. This might sound like a lot, but we think the 22 people rescued a day (on average) are absolutely worth it.

The RNLI volunteer crew are the backbone of the lifeboat service, physically saving lives at sea. There are more than 4,600 volunteer lifeboat crew members at stations around the UK, and another 3,000 volunteer shore crew members who support them. They are available 24/7, whatever the weather, to rescue those who need help.

Aberdeenshire has very strong connections to the sea through the local fishing industry, North Sea oil industry and the fantastic beaches we have on our doorstep.  It is very reassuring for everyone who goes to the sea, coast and inland water for work or leisure that the RNLI is close at hand with their volunteer crews to deal with any eventuality.

So, it’s easy to see why we believe this is a worthy and worthwhile cause for Mitchells Dairy, and the people of Inverurie, to support. You can’t put a price on the service the RNLI provides on a daily basis, but we feel we can try and repay some of that worth with our #foodiefundraiser.

If you want to come and support our local RNLI service, while having fun and learning a little about food and wine, then come along on Thursday 9 May between 7pm and 9pm.

Tickets for the fundraiser (in return for a suggested donation to the RNLI of just £10 per person) are available from the checkout in our shop, by phoning on 01467 621389 or emailing Judy at judy@mitchells-scotland.com.

For more information on the RNLI, why not visit their website - they have a great section on it called “Shorething” with games, activities and information for ages 7-14 years.

To keep up-to-date with what’s going on at Mitchells Dairy or the #foodiefundraiser, you can do so via our website, or through Facebook and Twitter.

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Colossal Cake Sale at Mitchells

As you all know, we always like to show our support for charity events at Mitchells Dairy - and the Help for Heroes Colossal Cake Sale is no exception!

The event officially runs from this Saturday 20 April to 5 May, and over the next week or so, we will be selling some of our home-made cupcakes, as well as some delicious cakes specially made for the cake sale.

There will be a table set up in the shop with Help for Heroes bunting, flags and collection tins, as well as some colossal cakes of course! We will also have wristbands and some badges to sell - and all proceeds will be donated to Help for Heroes.

Last year, 700 cake sale enthusiasts nationwide donned their aprons, grabbed their wooden spoons, and with some celebrity support behind it, this year is expected to be even bigger and better. Lorraine Kelly and celebrity chef, James Tanner launched the event - and here's what Lorraine had to say.

Help for Heroes do some amazing work for our wounded soldiers and their families, and we are so excited, and proud, to bake up a storm to support our heroes.

If you can't make it along to the shop, but would like to have your own Colossal Cake Sale at work or school, it's very simple to register. Simply click here, and don’t forget to check out the Help for Heroes Guide to a Colossal Cake Sale for more information.

You can also visit the Help For Heroes shop to buy a fabulous range of cake-related accessories to help you look the part by clicking here.

As well as supporting the Colossal Cake Sale, we are also throwing our weight behind the Cocktails, Clothes and Cakes event at Meldrum House Country Hotel and Golf Course on Sunday 19th May.

This fantastic event is also in support of Help for Heroes, and for any Mitchells Dairy hamper or fruit basket order that is placed on the day, we will make a donation to the charity!

We will give you more information about this event nearer the time, but in the meantime, we hope you can all get along to the shop, enjoy some colossal cakes and support our heroes!

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Mooovember at Mitchells

The male members of the Mitchells Dairy team may look a little bit different this month - that's because they will be growing moustaches for the Movember campaign!

For anyone who is not aware; the aim of Movember is to raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and testicular cancer.

In order to do so, men across the world begin the 1st of 'Movember' with a clean shaven face, then for the entire month, each participant must grow some facial hair from scratch.

Since its humble beginnings in Australia, Movember has grown to become a truly global movement - in 2011, over 854,000 people around the world got on board, raising £79.3 million.

The funds raised in the UK are directed to programmes run directly by Movember and their men’s health partners, Prostate Cancer UK and the Institute of Cancer Research.

For the rest of November, or Movember as it will now be known, the Mitchells team will chart the progress of their moustaches with regular photo updates on our blog, Facebook and Twitter.

Here is a picture of Keith with his two-day old moustache. He looks like he could be capable of growing some fine moustachery, doesn't he?

Over the next four weeks, we will be with Keith and the rest of the team every step of the way as they raise some hairs, and awareness, for Movember.

You might also want to keep an eye on Mooorial’s features as well, as she may consider supporting the men by adorning a mooo-stache.

If you want to keep up to date with our Movember campaign, follow us on Facebook and Twitter and remember to keep checking our blog for weekly updates.

You can also visit Keith's Movember page and donate to him by clicking HERE.

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