A first in fund-raising in Winchelsea took place at The Well House on Thursday, September 7th, with a charity breakfast for St Michael’s Hospice.

Alice Kenyon’s garden provided a beautiful backdrop for tables decked with colourful table cloths and napkins and an army of willing waitresses, wearing matching flowery aprons, were at the ready to serve seventy four breakfasts.  We were lucky too that the sun shone for the occasion.

The kitchen was a hive of activity with Alice and Charlotte and a team of helpers cooking and serving, sausages, eggs, bacon, black pudding, tomatoes, mushrooms and baked beans for the full English breakfast.  As I chose this for my breakfast I can testify to it being absolutely delicious. In the garden on a barbecue, Heather Litttle, cooked a multitude of blueberry pancakes she had made, serving them with bacon and maple syrup. This breakfast from ‘across the pond’ went down very well in Winchelsea too. In the sitting room surrounded by copious amounts of bread and three toasters Anne Dawson made toast to order. Waitresses dashed back and forth with tea, coffee and breakfast orders at speed, ensuring that all was piping hot.  In the kitchen Geoffrey, once again, dealt with all the washing up in his usual organized and unflappable manner.

Alice would especially like to thank the following for their generosity: Jamie Wickens at The Ship, who provided all the sausages, bacon and black pudding; Hugh and Mary from Strand Guest House for donating all the tomatoes and mushrooms and cooking them too;  the Farm Kitchen for providing a large quantity of eggs; Jenny Lonzano, for producing all the invitation and menu cards; The New Hall for providing trays and cutlery; the Church for providing crockery and chairs; and to all other individual donors.

Thank you to everyone for coming and to all the volunteers who worked so hard. It was a  delightful morning and a big thank you to Alice for organizing it and for so generously giving over her home and garden to host such a jolly and worthwhile event. The amount raised for St Michael’s Hospice is an amazing £900 to date.  Lorna Challand