Kilted Chef’s cookathon raises another £10k for Breast Cancer Care

Craig pulled out a recipe for success at the weekend with his 24 hour cookathon, which raised another £10,000 for Breast Cancer Care. That makes a phenomenal £28,000 in funds raised this year by the ‘Kilted Chef’ and his fundraising committee for this worthy cause. The ‘kilted chef’, so-called by Lorraine Kelly in her new autobiography (Between Me and You) after they met on GMTV’s Pot Idol competition, is the chef and proprietor of the popular Eat on the Green restaurant in Udny Green. Craig is winding down on his fundraising activities for the rest of the year after almost trebling his initial pledge to raise £10,000 at the start of 2008.

The cookathon consisted of four sittings kicking off with a Posh Ladies Lunch on Saturday, followed by a Decadent Dinner, a late night Casino Royale Dinner and ending with a Brilliant Brunch at 12pm on Sunday. Guests were treated to an Oscar’s style entrance as they arrived on the red carpet and were snapped by paparazzi and asked for autographs by fans. Our posh ladies enjoyed a fun, feminine and fushia pink atmosphere at lunch and bid furiously for Craig to cook in their own homes as one of the auction items. Mr Stewart Spence of The Marcliffe, who acted as compere for the lunch kindly offered wine to accompany the auctioned chef prize. The Decadent dinner was hosted by BBC radio’s silky smooth presenter Mark Stephen. Local magician John McGrath and swing singer, Billy Main contributed to the line-up for guests. Regular customers Alistair & Sheila Gauld celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary and stayed on to celebrate through the night with Craig. Resident ‘Bond girl’ Lauren Vaitkus welcomed guests on the red carpet at 1am in her flamboyant garb for the Casino Royale Dinner whilst Scotland’s top Elvis impersonator entertained guests. The Brilliant Brunch was a classic, fresh and relaxed affair and Mark Stephen returned as host whilst rising star Flora Cook (24, from Stonehaven) strummed her acoustic guitar and sang lazy Sunday love songs with effortless perfection.

Craig would like to pass on his sincere thanks to all those who were involved in organizing the event and to those who attended and dug deep to give so generously. “I can’t believe it, we never thought we’d raise quite so much from 200 guests but the atmosphere was amazing and we’re pretty sure everyone had a fantastic time”, says Craig who is now catching up on his sleep after working for 30 hours without a break. Craig’s family and friends have been touched by this disease and they have great admiration for the support that this charity gives to women affected by breast cancer. In his emotional closing speech on Sunday, Craig said ‘together, we fill fight this disease’.

www.eatonthegreen.co.uk