Just got back from a food and hospitality networking event hosted by Leapfrog PR at the newly refurblished Ellenborough Park Hotel, such a beautiful venue.  We were treated to delicious canapes, made by Executive Chef David Kelman, who has a great passion for using local Gloucestershire produce. This was the theme of evening and this type of food passion is spreading though Gloucestershire.

Both  Hotel Du Vin and The Montpellier Chapter are also great supporters of local food. Only last week Hotel Du Vin held the launch of the Gloucestershire Echo and Citizen's Taste of Gloucestershire Food and Farming Awards. Great new awards aimed at raising awareness of what is grown and produced on our doorstep.

Fabulous hotels supporting local food, that can only be a good thing.

This week is M.E. Awareness Week and we will be helping to raise much needed funds by donating a percentage of our total overall week’s sales, as well as selling M.E. wristbands from our kitchen unit and at our Cheltenham Farmers Market Stall. The funds raised will be sent to Action for M.E., the UK’s leading M.E. charity to help support suffers, carers and fund more research into the illness.

M.E. is cause close to my heart which is why she wanted to help. I have been suffering with the illness for the past 12 and half years. I first became ill in her early teens and was bedbound for over a year with utter exhaustion, constant muscle and joint pain as well as increased sensitivity to sound and touch.

Part of the reason I started the Vanilla Pod Bakery was so I could look after my health and work my own hours. The business is demanding but it allows me the flexibility to choose when I am healthy and able to work.  Raising funds this week is vital, however, it won’t stop there for us,  as I would like to encourage more people to learn about M.E. and help raise funds through a variety of different activities, please contact me if you would like to help.

M.E. affects men, women and children of all ages and of all social and ethnic backgrounds and it is currently estimated that around 250,000 in the UK have the illness.  The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence says it can be “as disabling as multiple sclerosis, lupus rheumatoid arthritis, congestive heart failure and other chronic conditions”.

Hope you can all help.

Best wishes, 

Pia xx