Chester 'can' smash record
Chester Food & Drink Festival’s world record attempt for 2007 has been achieved with a total of nearly 10,000 drinks cans. The giant artwork included a huge multi-coloured waterfall flowing over Chester’s Town Hall steps, which cascaded into a swirling can pond on the square below. Two other “waterfalls’ of cans ran down the lamp-posts to either side creating smaller pools in blues and reds.
Over the last couple of months more than 1,000 local children from thirty schools were invited to collect cans and help out with the sculpture by constructing their own small sections. The pupils also learnt about the importance of recycling and reducing consumption. All of the cans that formed the Chester sculpture will be recycled.
Hundreds of tin cans were collected by children across Chester but with more than 700 cans it was pupils of Dee Banks School in Sandy Lane, Chester which collected the most. They were closely followed by Capenhurst Primar, of Capenhurst Lane and Hoole All Saints Primary School of Hoole Lane, Hoole.
Pupils from Capenhurst, Newton Primary School of Newton and Thomas of Canterbury Primary School of Walpole Street visited the city centre sculpture site.
Stephen Wundke, chairman of the Chester Food & Drink Festival, said: “This has been a magnificent group effort by the people of Chester to achieve a world record, building on the success of last year’s bottle top mosaic and the toast mosaic the year before that. The tin can sculpture along with the cheese rolling have kick-started this year’s bigger and better Chester Food & Drink Festival. We have seen children from many schools across the city get involved in making parts of the sculpture and we hope they will be part of the revolution in food and drink in Chester for many years to come.”
Six thousand of the cans that made up the sculpture were donated by Ball Packaging Europe Ltd and last week pupils from Hoole All Saints Primary School, Hoole Lane, Hoole visited Ball Packaging Europe Ltd’s Wrexham factory to learn more about the process of making and recycling cans.
For more information about other events happening over the Chester Food & Drink Festival please visit www.chesterfoodanddrink.com.
Chester’s Food and Drink Festival is organised on behalf of Chester City Council with support from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), Visit Chester & Cheshire; the tourism board for Cheshire and Warrington, Cheshire County Council, Made in Cheshire, North West Fine Foods and the Rural Recovery Fund.
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Chester Food and Drink Festival Taste Marquee is planned for April 7th to 9th 2007, Easter Saturday to Easter Monday. The Marquee will contain over 100 retailers and growers with samples of Cheshire, North Wales, national and international produce, reflecting the cosmopolitan nature of Cheshire.
Celebrity chefs already lined up include TV chef extraordinaire & vegetarian expert Simon Rimmer, Robert Kisby newly appointed executive Head Chef at the recently refurbished Cock O Barton near Farndon and Michael Caines, one of Britain’s most acclaimed chefs and operational Partner and Director of ABode, the group of boutique hotels he co-founded.
The Food and Drink Fringe Festival will also take place around the City from April 6 to 15, 2007 with special events, restaurants, bars and hotels all helping to make Chester the focus of food and drink within the UK, with theme nights, special family offers and accommodation promotions.
Evening events include a Champagne tasting evening on Saturday April 7. A cocktail and mixology competition, attracting over 100 attendees last year, to be held on Sunday April 8 with competitors from bars across Cheshire. On Monday April 9 plans are for a combination of music designed to stimulate the taste buds and the Gala Dinner and awards ceremony will ensure 250 people sample a gourmet menu sourced from leading producers in the North West. This is likely to be held on Tuesday April 10 2007.
Special events include the Cheese Rolling on Wednesday, 7th March, the farmers market and the ale assize and medieval banquet on Saturday April 14th.
2006 Visitor Survey 16,000 people visited the Taste Marquee and £90,000 was spent there over the three days. - 51 per cent of visitors came from a distance of more than 25 miles, making a total of 8,000 people brought into the City. - 78 per cent of people surveyed said the event was good or excellent. - 87 per cent of people surveyed said they were likely to return. - Nearly 100 producers and exhibitors were on show in the Taste Marquee, bringing their own skills and produce from Cheshire and around the world to be part of the Festival. - There were seminars and competitions in micro brewing, wines, sausages and cheeses and the opportunity to taste local paté, black pudding, bread, cereals, oils, pies, meat, fish, cheeses, chocolates, liqueurs and even a juice bar.
Festival brochures will be available across the City from March. Phone 01244 351609 for more details. For further information on the region go to www.visitchester.com. More general information at www.chesterfoodanddrink.com
Press Contacts: Jane Harrad-Roberts Mob: 07785 395705 Phil Brotherhood Mob: 07884 493370 Tel: 01244 330000 MARKETING PROJECTS Email: info@marketingprojects.co.uk
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