HHHHHolidays for some of us have now finished, taking us all back to the usual work routines.

During the summer I had the pleasure to work alongside with Vacherin for a great challenge.

Here below I let Owner and Managing director Phil Roker explain a bit more:

Phil over to you:

This year marks the 15th anniversary of Vacherin opening its first ever contract at Imagination - a contract which we are still proud to look after to this day!

To commemorate our 15 years of operation, a small band of ultra-fit(!) team members are going to complete an epic cycle journey, from our office in Hatton Garden to the home of Vacherin, in the Jura region of Switzerland - a total of 1,065km/665miles, with lots of ups and downs, with the aim of raising £15,000 for our chosen charity, Luminary Bakery.

LUMINARY BAKERY

Luminary Bakery have been Vacherin’s partner charity for 12 months. We support this social enterprise in east London, which offers opportunities for women who have experienced social or economicdisadvantage, to build their skills and improve their futures.

In 2017, Luminary Bakery opened their very own café in StokeNewington, launched a stall at Borough Market and began a partnership with Ben & Jerry’s. They also launched a mentoring scheme which Vacherin took part in, pairing professional female volunteers withbakery graduates to help them with their next steps.

37 women have now graduated from Luminary’s programmes with88% going into employment, further training or enterprise. Five new businesses have been created by these entrepreneurial graduates.

Leaving London on September 8th, we will ride almost 100 miles per dayto arrive at The Museum of Vacherin (yes, it really exists!) in the small town of Les Charbonnieres on the day that the rst Vacherin cheese is released.

£15,000 WOULD ENABLE US TO FIT OUT THE LUMINARY TEACHING ROOM TO A HIGH-SPEC PROFESSIONAL KITCHEN

At the moment the women at the bakery are sharing wooden spoons and mixers and are prepping on a domestic kitchen table! With the money raised, we would be able
to fund this large project which would include knocking down a wall for more space, plumbing in a handwash sink and running electrics to hobs, this way each woman would have everything she needs to train in the most professional environment possible, preparing them for professional.

To achieve the £15,000 target that we have set ourselves, we hope tosecure your support through both an online auction and our JustGivingpage.

Our charity page is now up and running - click here to donate

Our auction has also started - click here to visit our auction page

These are the lots that you can currently bid on:

- A Vacherin Chef for the evening (at home or at work) with catering support from either Phil Roker, Simon Macfarlane or Tom Rule. Dinner for 6 (excluding alcohol) Choose from four of our seniorVacherin Chefs including Steven Lickley, Masterchef Finalist
- Dinner for four at Robin Gill’s restaurant - Sorella
- Manchester United football shirt signed by football legend Andy Cole
- 2 tickets to the HSBC World Seven Series, Twickenham June 2019
- 18 holes of golf at the stunning Championship Golf Course at The Grove
- 2 x 500g T bone steaks
- A year’s supply of Extract coffee of your choice to your home
- Afternoon tea for two at The Luminary Bakery
- A day at Appledore with Block and Cleaver farmers and a turkey delivered at Christmas
- Hire of a cocktail barman to create three tasty cocktails for up to 30 people
- One whole Kent lamb
- Whole salmon lleting workshop with a whole salmon to take home with you
We would love you to forward the details onto your work colleagues and join us in achieving our goal.