Hells Kitchen

You can never have too many cooks when it comes to charity. Mel and Andrew Streek of Claygate Distribution and ten of their chums are to participate in Enduro Africa this October. Enduro Africa is a unique motorcycle adventure in aid of Unicef, The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, Sentebale and Touch Africa.

On Monday, 22nd June 2009 the twelve high profile businessmen, known to some as “The Dirty Dozen”, entered the kitchen at The Honeymoon Chinese Restaurant in Tenterden to learn to cook Sezchuan courtesy of Head Chef, Alex Tang.

In a ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ style competition, held to raise awareness and encourage support for the up and coming Africa excursion, the businessmen got hands-on, shelling oysters, chopping vegetables, dicing chicken, shredding duck and generally getting hot and steamy slaving away over the stove.

The Streek brother’s, Mel and Andrew of Claygate Distribution, headed teams A and B respectively and the games began. Andrew’s unfortunate brush with a blade means that he can now only count to nine and Mel proved to be an excellent delegator as the cleanliness of his chef’s overall will contest.

The Dirty Dozen entered into the spirit of the event with much gusto, enthusiasm and of course, spirit. The token vegetarian among the group, Stuart Lorne of Siamp UK, hates meat, the look of it, the smell of it and the taste of it, but sure enough when the going got tough, the carrot-cruncher was in the front line wielding his cleaver like a samurai sword slicing through the fowl.

Having managed to feed the five thousand (well, 70 members of their friends and family) with a flock of chicken, a herd of cattle, a sty of pigs, a shoal of squid and an allotment of vegetables, much money was raised in the auction, which was of course the real purpose behind the event.

The Honeymoon Restaurant gave up an evening’s revenue to donate their venue; guests paid £60 a head for a three-course set menu and some incredible prizes were donated for the Raffle and Auction. With 100% of all takings going to charity, everyone who provided, attended, enjoyed and participated raised in excess of £10,000.

The event had live coverage by John Warnett from BBC Radio Kent.

The contestants of Enduro Africa will be pushed to the limit as they ride Honda CRF230 motorcycles along South Africa’s Wild Coast, covering 1000 miles off-road in eight days, traversing some of the most demanding terrain while dealing with the combined effects of extreme temperatures, badly maintained roads, early starts and very long days in the saddle. By joining this great cause and raising money to take part, The Dirty Dozen will be helping to save the lives of some of Africa’s poorest people.

The Dirty Dozen; Mel Streek and Andrew Streek Claygate Distribution Ltd, Guy Johnson Goudhurst, Bradley Ward Gordon & Co, Pip Howard Body And Paint Shop Supplies Ltd, Colin Dunstall Donaldson & Dunstal Solicitors, Darrell Healey GSE Group, Anthony Woodcock Citadel Restorations Ltd, Stuart Lorne Siamp UK, David Clarke SMH Contractors, Paul Stephen Sagittarius Digital, Reggie Marchant British Marquees.

Photos from the evening...