Carol Smillie Joins Kitchen Team at Rachel House

Scottish TV personality Carol Smillie this week joined staff and volunteers to help prepare a festive meal for families at Rachel House in Kinross, one of two centres run by the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS).

Ms Smillie was one of a host of Scottish celebrities who provided recipes for a charity cookbook, “Round the Table”,  published by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) which is being sold to raise funds for CHAS and CHILDREN 1ST.

CHAS, which also runs Robin House in Balloch, provides the only hospice services in Scotland for children and young people with life-shortening conditions. The hospices support the whole family by offering short planned breaks, emergency support, end of life care and a range of bereavement services.

During her visit Ms Smillie donned an apron and prepared vegetables in the kitchen at the hospice using a recipe from the book. She also revealed that recent sales of the “Round the Table” cookbook have raised a further £2500 for the two charities, taking the total donated to the charities following sales of the book to over £5500.

The hard back, colour cookbook features simple, delicious, family favourite beef, lamb and pork recipes from the likes of actor Ewan McGregor, TV presenter Lorraine Kelly and football legend Sir Alex Ferguson.

The book is part of a QMS campaign highlighting the value of friends and families making time to prepare good quality meals and sit down together, away from TV and mobile phones.

“Many thanks to all the staff, volunteers and families who made me feel so welcome during my visit to Rachel House today,” said Carol Smillie.

“The people I met who are staying at the hospice were so inspirational and humbling, these kids are incredible in the way they cope with their complex conditions, with such good spirits.”

Sitting down to eat together at a large shared dining table is an important aspect of daily life at Rachel House, allowing families to make the most of this precious family interaction with each other and enjoy camaraderie with other families staying at the hospice.

Carol McLaren, Head of Communications with Quality Meat Scotland, joined Ms Smillie during the visit to Rachel House.

“We are delighted that sales of the cookbook are not only helping to raise the profile of the fantastic food our farmers produce in Scotland but also continue to raise funds for these two exceptional charities,” said Mrs McLaren.

Clinical Nurse Manager, Jane McFarlane said: “Carol is a long-term supporter of CHAS and we can’t thank her enough for continually raising awareness of the work we do and the families we support. We’re very grateful to Quality Meat Scotland for choosing CHAS as one of the charities to benefit from sales of the cookbook. The funds raised will help us in continuing to deliver quality, specialised care to those that need it most.”

Priced at £5, the “Round the Table” charity cookbook is available at selected Waterstone’s stores and can be purchased on-line here. Some butchers who are members of the Scotch Butchers Club are also stocking the book, along with selected farm shops.