EPICURE Early Spring 2020

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however are very immediate! It requires massive amounts of
effort and discipline, and that discipline is not self-indulgent,
it’s selfless, as it is a requirement. It is a very tough environment.
We are all interconnected and intertwined, but it’s also like the
analogy of a swan, where on the surface to the customer we
appear very calm, but underneath there’s two legs paddling! But
we’ve got more than two legs on the team, and those legs are
components, all working together. It’s fascinating and it’s a good
insight into what goes on behind the scenes.
On a completely different note, did you go to Silverstone this
year? If so, how many Grand Prix’s did you get to attend?
I did go this year, it was great! I’ve seen four this year, sometimes
it’s five. But I did three Europeans and one fly-away, and so we
send a chef out to all the Europeans to support ROKiT Williams
Racing, and I go to Monaco, British, Monza and America.
Sometimes I do Abu Dhabi and I might try and do Singapore
next year. I do as many or as few as I want, but no less than three.
What’s your favourite?
Monaco is amazing but the racing is dull. Monza is the fastest
track. Italy, I love Italy. But I love Silverstone for pure racing,
it’s a great track. It’s a fascinating sport, and I think as much as
we criticise it, one minute you can have a dull race and the next
minute you can have the most exciting race.
I know you are very involved with charities, and you have the
Michael Caines Academy at Exeter College?
It’s probably more of an educational programme at Exeter College
where we take sixteen students through two years of training and
they then graduate as a Michael Caines Academy student. In that
time they have a slightly shortened curriculum where they spend
six weeks in work experience and they have do one ‘experience
day’ a week, which are cooking demonstrations, visits to the
industry etc. After these two years when they graduate they are
very sought after, because of the experience they have gained. So
the academy is very important and it’s doing a great job supplying
the industry with some much needed talent.
“IF YOU ARE A PUBLIC FIGURE...
THEN I THINK YOU HAVE A DUTY
OF CARE TO DO SOMETHING AND
PUT BACK INTO THE COMMUNITY”
They are all like-minded and are fabulous kids, and now in its
eighth year we’ve had sixty cohorts going through, and we will
continue to develop. But in terms of the charity work I do, I work
with seven different charities. I’m patron of Families for Children
which is an adoption charity, I’m the president of the wonderful
charity Farms for City Children, I’m on the board for the Exeter
Chiefs Foundation, which is the charity for the Exeter Rugby team
which do a fantastic job. I’m also an ambassador and advisor to the
board of the Calvert Trust, and I also work alongside Damon Hill’s
Charity who support people with Down’s Syndrome.
So it’s lots of different charities! But it increases public
awareness, and I’m particularly proud to have been made a
deputy lieutenant to the lieutenant of Devon, because through
this position I am able to work on improving the network of
charities in Devon, and get them working together.
In terms of the success of the Exeter Chiefs, and the work that
they do – we support seventeen charities every year, but alongside
that we donate un-designated funds to a huge amount of different
charities. What we are seeing is a way in which we can help
charities with capital projects, and last year we got together
with the Property Ball. They raised £55,000 last year towards
charities, and we chose to match fund that, and so between the
two charities we raised £110,000 to refit Devon Hospice in Exeter,
which was a well-worthy cause and an incredible thing to do. But
it’s things like that, that are about the community, that inspire
you to get involved. If you are a public figure or you are someone
who is perceived to be a celebrity or you are successful then I
think you have a duty of care to do something and put back in the
community. Not everybody does it but I think it is important.
You can find out more about Michael Caines at michaelcaines.
com and Lympstone Manor at lympstonemanor.co.uk
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