World Curry Festival spices up charity fundraising

Curry fanatics can satisfy their cravings with a goodwill charity gesture at the World Curry Festival this month and enjoy culinary delights cooked up by Army chefs in aid of ABF The Soldiers’ Charity.

WCF Logo

Taking place in The Headrow, Leeds, between 23 and 25 September, the second annual World Curry Festival is a celebration of all things tasty in world curry cuisine, and will feature fundraising events in aid of The Soldiers’ Charity. The charity, which supports former and serving soldiers and their families, runs The Soldiers’ Charity Big Curry campaign that asks people throughout the UK to host their own fundraising Big Curry feasts.

Army chefs from the Royal Logistics Corps Territorial Army in Grantham will be on hand at the World Curry Festival cooking the favourite curries of the Armed Forces. Anyone attending the free Festival can taste the soldiers’ culinary creations and enjoy curry for a small donation to The Soldiers’ Charity.

Robin Bacon, Chief of Staff, The Soldiers’ Charity explains:

“Having been served to troops since the 18th century, curry is the British Army’s favourite dish and so it’s fantastic for The Soldiers’ Charity and our Big Curry fundraising initiative to be the charity partner of the World Curry Festival. As well as raising money to support former and serving soldiers and their families, we’re really looking forward to sharing the culinary skills of our chef soldiers and simply enjoying great curries and fun entertainment at the festival.”

Curries provided by The Soldiers’ Charity will be prepared from a field kitchen – normally used to serve curry to thousands of hungry serving soldiers. Tasty curries on offer will be made using sauces from Sharwood’s, supporters of the Big Curry, including the new Bhut Jolokia curry – the hottest curry sauce ever to hit supermarket shelves. Money from the sale of every jar of Sharwood’s Bhut Jolokia goes towards The Soldiers’ Charity Big Curry initiative.

The Soldiers’ Charity curry stand will be at the World Curry Festival to raise awareness of the Big Curry fundraising campaign and to encourage people to sign up.

Anyone can host a Big Curry by registering at www.bigcurry.org, having a curry themed event large or small, and asking those attending to make a small donation to The Soldiers’ Charity. As well as tips and information on hosting a Big Curry, bigcurry.org is also packed with great curry recipes from celebrity chefs such as Simon Rimmer, Brian Turner, Greg Wallace, Anthony Worrell Thompson and Cyrus Todiwala.

The World Curry Festival is a celebration of all things curry and takes place on The Headrow in central Leeds between 11am and 7pm on 23, 24 and 25 September 2011. For more information and to book your free entry tickets to the World Curry Festival please visit www.worldcurryfestival.com.

For the last two years The Soldiers’ Charity has seen a 30 per cent rise in people seeking its help. It expects this to increase with the continuing operations in Afghanistan and the Big Curry is one of many ways the charity is funding its vital work with troops. The average grant The Soldiers’ Charity makes is approximately £800 and goes towards a wide range of projects, including adaptation of houses or cars for those injured on operations, and giving money to partner charities. To find out more about how The Soldiers’ Charity makes a difference visit www.soldierscharity.org.