Congratulations to the Independent Age Finance Team!

by Noel Flannery, Director of Finance and Corporate Services

Members of Independent Age's finance team, posing with our new logo. Noel Flannery is on the far left.

I am delighted to be able to tell you that we have just learnt that Independent Age has been voted a finalist by the judging panel in this year’s Third Sector Excellence Awards in the Financial Management category. The actual award ultimately goes to the third sector organisation whose Finance function has made the most demonstrable improvement in financial management and control over the 12-month period 1 June 2009 – 31 May 2010. The Awards Ceremony takes place on 23 September in London.

Whilst it would be good to end up as winners, the fact that the Finance Team has made it to the final is a major tribute in itself to their hard work both in public view and behind the scenes within Independent Age. The detailed workings of Finance may not always be readily understood by the wider world but, believe me, Independent Age’s approach to financial management and control has changed out of all recognition over the past couple of years and my thanks go to the team for this.

More generally, whether we win or not, the awards ceremony will provide some very positive PR for Independent Age since it will be extensively covered in Third Sector magazine after the event in September. As a result it will no doubt help to persuade future donors and funders that their generous donations will be in safe hands as well as giving our nice new logo a very public airing!

Ellie and Becky cook up a storm at Olympia’s Retirement Show (sort of!)

How do you top a chef who has just been voted the most innovative cook of the year and who, as a finale, has just made dry ice appear from his sorbet? You go on and make an assortment of internationally-themed omelette ramekins, of course - while also relying heavily on an assortment of pretty floral dresses and humour to carry you through and make up for what you might be lacking in cookery know-how!

This is the position Ellie and I found ourselves in this weekend at the London Olympia Prudential Retirement Show where, following the release of our cookery book, The Thrifty Kitchen, late last year, we earned a slot as one of six featured chefs to appear at the show to demonstrate our wares. We found ourselves neatly nestled on the bill between vegetarian chef, Eddie Shepherd, who was last year’s winner of Cordon Vert’s Chef of the Future title and Colin Buchan, head chef at the Gordon Ramsey outpost, The York & Albany.

We didn’t need to let that daunt us, we thought – we had just what the audience wanted. And what they wanted were:

• Four internationally-themed omelette ramekins in honour of the recent World Cup
• A tomato consommé with star anise and prawn
• Hot-smoked salmon fishcakes with a dill and mustard dressing

And as luck would have it, we had recipes for all of these, courtesy of those who had contributed to The Thrifty Kitchen.

Ellie preps our seasonal veg: lovely, juicy vine-tomatoes, "you can't beat" broad beans and the evergreen peas "of the frozen variety". Yummy.


The first recipe, we thought, was a great way of showing how you can make up something yummy using whatever you have left over in the bottom of your fridge or cupboard. We chose an international theme in order to show just four of the many flavour combinations you could have. Using the same base for all ramekins (a mixture of eggs, Parmesan, spinach, flour and nutmeg) the fun started with the “add-in” ingredients. Our ramekins took us on an international voyage (who knew they had such powers?) covering:

• Spain - with chorizo, roasted musrooms and goat’s cheese
• Argentina - with roasted sweet potatoes, roasted red onion and mozzarella
• Italy - with the tried-and-tested combination of tomato, mozzarella and basil
• England - with broad beans, peas and feta (ok, ok, you got us, feta may not emanate from our home island, but it tastes good in this ramekin!)

The smooth criminals ace their World Cup omelette ramekins.

Our second recipe, the tomato consommé with star anise and prawn, was chosen on the basis of tomatoes being bang in season at the moment, meaning they taste great and are at their cheapest. This recipe, despite its delicate appearance is packed full of flavour, meaning if you have any leftover, it’s perfect to freeze into small cubes and use as a base stock for other dishes. And, as one canny member of the audience pointed out, you might even want to make use of the leftover pulp for sandwiches. Perfect.

Two down and one to go, our swansong and grand finale were Peter Gordon’s hot-smoked salmon fishcakes with a dill and mustard dressing. This may not sound like it has a rightful place in The Thrifty Kitchen, but it’s a brilliant example of how you can make use of a relatively small amount of a really good quality ingredient and make it go a long way – this batch uses just 250g of hot-smoked salmon to make up 20 small fishcakes.

All done - and the relief is palpable.

Also on the bill this weekend was food writer, Ian Gilbert, who cooked in Provence before working in Australia for several years as a food and wine editor on the Melbourne broadsheet, The Sunday Age. Luckily for us, he has championed The Thrifty Kitchen from the start and he continued our thrifty theme at Olympia, cooking up three sweet treats, again using seasonal and store cupboard staples. On his menu were mini pavlovas, served with a summer fruit compote, crème brulee with blackberries, and a clafoutis aux cerises (that’s a cherry flan to us non-French speakers).
Ian keeps his audience enthralled and hanging on the edge of their seats - can he make a pavlova? Can he? No.

His pavlova mixture may not have peaked in quite the way he had planned, but his humour did, meaning his audience were kept entertained throughout. And besides, his “here’s one I made earliers” turned out to be real beauties.

Ian shows off one of his "here's one I made earlier" bap-lovas


Thanks to Harriet Steele for selling Thrifty Kitchen cookbooks on the day--and if you would like one, why not visit our Thrifty Kitchen website?

Cumbria Garden Open raises over £2800 for Independent Age

Above, L to R: Sandra Tate, Area Manager Kay White, and David Tate

The gardens of Garth House in Brampton, Cumbria were opened by kind permission of Sandra and David Tate MBE, on Sunday 20 June in aid of Independent Age.

Over 400 people visited the outstanding gardens surrounding the beautiful late-Georgian red sandstone house, experiencing firsthand the dazzling array of different styles, including a sunken formal garden, a woodland walk, a wildlife pond, a Japanese garden and even a Zen garden. Independent Age volunteers were at hand to offer tea and refreshments.

Above, L to R: Valerie Johnson, Margaret Sutcliffe, Kay White, Penny Kretzschmar, Jill Faux, and Jean Garnett

Kay White, Independent Age Area Manager for the North East and Cumbria and organiser of the event, said: "The garden has a reputation in the region, so people came from all over Cumbria to see it. The setting was absolutely idyllic and we were blessed with a beautiful sunny day. I am thrilled that the event helped to raise so much for Independent Age and we are extremely grateful to our hosts and to everyone who worked so hard to make the day go so smoothly.

"Home again in one piece, no injuries, and yes, I made it!"

Congratulations to Sally Hough of Tavistock, Devon, who successfully completed the challenge of cycling 1,100 miles from Land's End to John O'Groats in aid of Independent Age. "Just because you're a pensioner doesn't mean life stops," said Sally of her challenge. "I love being outdoors. There are so many rules in other sports that you have to abide by, but with cycling you can just be free." Sally's cycle resulted in her covering a total of 1087.6 miles in 90.25 hours, over 16 days.

"My favourite day was cycling through the Yorkshire Dales into Cumbria with a particularly challenging climb via Dent Station and stunning scenery," says Sally, who raised over £500 for Independent Age. "One thing is for sure," she continues,"I shall keep cycling, even though the hills round here are frequent and steep."

Beneficiary-Organised Coffee Morning, Brampton,Cumbria

On May 15, a group of our beneficiaries in Cumbria held their annual coffee morning fundraiser, which is always a lot of fun for all who participate. Mary Glover, one of the event's organisers, wrote this report of the event for the local paper:

"We had smiles and laughter all the way for our annual coffee morning on Saturday. Our volunteers gave their support as always. Doris Watson (pictured far right, next to Area Manager Kay White) served refreshments while Sandy MacCrea-Stewart (pictured second from left) sold almost everything on her white elephant stall.

"On Mary Glover's (pictured third from left) stall there was a range of homemade cakes, jams and chutneys, plus a double chocolate torte made by Sandy. Elizabeth Pender organised the raffle prizes which numbered more than 20 and included luxury toiletries, chocolates and biscuits, stationery and wines.

"£177.72 was raised for Independent Age, and thanks go to all who assisted and gave their time and efforts, and to our many visitors."

Sponsor Sally Hough's Land's End to John O'Groats Cycle Ride - 8-23 May 2010

Sally will be cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats and is raising money for Independent Age.

Last year she cycled Ireland end to end to celebrate her birthday (a significant one!) and this year she has a new challenge. She will be cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats via the scenic route which will be about 1100 miles, safer than major roads but possibly hillier! She will also be taking seven ferries as she will be cycling via the Western Isles of Scotland.

This trip is entirely self funded, therefore all the money donated will go to Independent Age. To donate and support Sally's cycle ride, go to: http://www.justgiving.com/Sally-Hough .

Congratulations to our London Marathon runners

Here are Moira and Michael Penney, wearing their medals-and huge grins-after completing the Virgin London Marathon for Independent Age last Sunday.

We had 9 runners in the London Marathon yesterday and so far between them they have raised over £11,000 with more money coming in!

A big thank you to Philip, Karen, Diana, Eileen and Amanda from Independent Age for coming out to cheer our runners on! The marathon is a real highlight of the fundraising year and their support was greatly appreciated by the runners.

Here are their times:

Kevin Sharkey - 3hrs 36mins
Abby Cockerton - 4hrs 50mins
Bill Maloney - 4hrs 15mins
Pam Gray - 5hrs 28mins
Russell Ings - 4hrs 9mins
Andrew Mark - 4hrs 55mins
Thomas Phillips - 3hrs 51mins
Moira Penney - 5hrs 8mins
Michael Penney - 4hrs 22mins

If you would like to run in a marathon, or take part in another sporting challenge for us, please check our website for details of upcoming events or email Harriet Steele to find out more.