8
Christmas Parties
Walking in the air
Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund takes a Christmas
market to the Victory Services Club
he Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund chose to have their
Christmas Party at the Victory Services Club, in Marble
Arch, London. The RAF Benevolent Fund is the RAF’s
leading welfare charity with a proud tradition of looking after all
serving and former members of the RAF as well as their partners
and dependent children. The charity is based in Portland Place,
London, so they required a central London venue for their annual
Christmas party for 80 head office staff.
“We have a long-standing relationship with the VSC and we’ve
held events there before, but this was the first time we held our
Christmas party there,” explained Pete Thompson, head of HR for
the Fund. “The location is perfect; the team is very friendly and the
quality of the food is superb.”
The Fund chose the Club’s Christmas market format to create an
informal and interactive Christmas experience for the team. “As a
charity we have to be mindful of how much we spend on our
Christmas party, so our staff make a personal contribution and we
have a cash bar to keep costs down,” continued Thompson. “The
Carisbrooke Hall has a fully stocked bar and prices are very
reasonable, so our team were perfectly happy to buy their own
drinks.”
Christmas market stalls were dotted around the Carisbrooke Hall
enabling RAF Benevolent Fund staff to choose the food they liked
the look of, and to sample some new flavours. The Christmas
markets menu created the ambience, the tastes and the smells of
the European Christmas markets and included freshly made French
crepes and Baeckeoffe (a classic French stew), traditional Bavarian
Christmas specialities of Bratwurst with Curry Sauce and Pork
Schnitzel with Jaeger Sauce.
“I loved the variety of the food served; we have a range of
different ages and a variety of tastes so having market stalls was a
great way to ensure there was something for everyone. Our staff
were able to be as adventurous as they dared - if something wasn’t
quite to their taste they could move onto the next stall. Staff were
able to mingle and talk to everyone as they moved around the
room.”
Following the meal, guests enjoyed a disco and then retired to the
Carisbrooke Hall Bar for a nightcap before heading home.
“The VSC is a very relaxed venue and they enabled us to create
an informal Christmas celebration for our team,” Thompson
concludes. “It was a special evening that will be remembered;
feedback from the team has been very positive. We like to do
something different every year, but there’s a good chance we will be
returning to the VSC again and developing this theme further with
them.”
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