A FINE dining event featuring celebrity chef Tim Maddams and hosted by Hatherleigh Primary School has raised £1,300 for the school’s woodland project, writes Sally Shipton.

On Friday evening the school’s lights were dimmed and the classrooms transformed — teachers and parents decorated the tables with home grown flowers, rustic table cloths and homemade bunting.

The guests arrived to the event with former River Cottage chef Tim Maddams from pop up restaurant ‘Hall and Hearty’ in high spirits as he cooked a three course meal prepared from local produce.  

The evening culminated with an auction where light-hearted bidding wars took place over a variety of donated prizes. 

Jo Pullin, a parent volunteer, said that the evening was a roaring success and saw the pulling together of the local community. She also said that many parents acted as finely dressed waiting staff and there were generous loans of tables, chairs and crockery from the Manor House Hotel.

The money raised helped fund the new school woodland, which is now fully accessible, hosts an amphitheatre, storytelling throne and a pizza oven. The woodland will have its formal opening at the school’s Community Fun Day on Saturday (July 16).

Tim Maddams is pictured above second from the right with organisers and helpers in the school kitchen.

Picture by James Bird