Stuart WoodMore than 300 veterans, members of the royal family, heads of state and 3,000 distinguished guests gathered on Portsmouth’s Southsea Common, 5 June, for the D-Day 75 remembrance event.
Attendees including Her Majesty the Queen, Prime Minister Theresa May and US President Donald Trump paid their respects to the thousands of troops who sacrificed their lives to secure Europe’s freedom and future.
HPower, the event management specialist which is appointed event management agency to the Ministry of Defence and The Royal British Legion, contracted Eat to the Beat to cater for D-Day 75.
Eat to the Beat catered for the event’s crew, production and performers, working on site from mid-May when the creation of the event was in full swing. In fact, the job was so vast that a total of 8,000 hot meals were prepared alongside 2,500 meal bags.
The project, led by Mary Shelley-Smith, global operations director at Eat to the Beat, with support from crew leader Jo Tucker, saw the event catering specialist on site at Southsea Common until 13th June. Eat to the Beat prepared and cooked a range of dishes, including beetroot bourguignon, Spanish chicken supreme and homemade fishcakes with a plethora of fresh vegetables, salads, fruit and homemade treats.
Shelley-Smith commented on the event: “Eat to the Beat was honoured to play a part in D-Day 75. It was such a humbling event; one that all members of the team were proud to work on. It was one of those events that you will never forget and we were delighted to work with HPower on such an honourable occasion.”
Nick Brooks Ward, event director of HPower, commented: “The Eat to the Beat team were amazing, they adapted to our ever changing requirements and rehearsal schedules perfectly, delivering up to 800 meals per day and feeding crew throughout the night to ensure the National Commemorative Event was the success that it was.
“They are the best in our industry and without them we wouldn’t have been able to keep the show on the road!”