The Datebook Winter & Spring 2016 | Page 10

QEF Ladies Autumn Lunch The afternoon began with a sparkling reception and then lunch in the Duchess Stand with a table by the window offering an amazing view over the racecourse and Surrey Hills. With over 400 supporters attending the lunch, the room was very crowded and it was difficult for staff to reach the tables making service amateurish and slow. The starter of Salmon Rillette was very good and once again chocolate truffles, instead of pudding, was a perfect finish to the lunch. The guest speaker, Prue Leith CBE, was excellent. T his event has been held for over 20 years at Epsom Racecourse and last year celebrated the 80th year for Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation for Disabled People. The shopping at this event is a big draw but this year sadly no plants as the QEF horticultural program has lost their government funding. This was a great disappointment even though there were many new stallholders present and lots of variety. Guest speaker, Prue Leith CBE, was excellent and talked about how her life had evolved. She hasn’t cooked professionally for 20 years but still people think her latest novel, “The Food of Love”, is a cookery book. This, however, is a novel and guests were keen to buy a signed copy. QEF plan a new state of the art 24 bedroom specialist Care & Rehabilitation Centre where specialist brain injury rehabilitative therapies and treatment can be provided. Dr Julian Harriss, QEF Medical Director, talked about the new development and outlined a “shopping list” of what is needed for the Centre which will make a great difference to the care of disabled people. An amazing £26,396.33 was raised at the event and will go towards fitting out and equipping a bedroom at the new Centre. LYNNE WARNER A delightful luncheon event with a wonderful turnout! Voice of the Listener and Viewer T he recent Voice of the Listener and Viewer conference could not have come at a more crucial time in the history of PSB in the UK. media scrutiny and rivalry and the other one is where the public live with and love the broadcasting service, with 97% of people using the BBC for 18 hours a week. Rona Fairhead, Chair of the BBC Trust, outlined the two facets of the BBC, commenting that it operates in two parallel worlds. One is under intense She pointed out that the current charter renewal had an unprecedented response from the public who want a better, protected BBC and she Rona Fairhead, Chair of the BBC Trust. 8 THE LONDON & UK DATEBOOK acknowledged that there was opposition about changes such as BBC3 moving to the iPlayer. With regard to funding, the public support the principle of universality and prefer a funding model like the licence fee or a household levy. Al [