James Martin’s donkey work for local charity

The charismatic chef, who is well known as the star of the popular BBC 1 shows ‘Saturday Kitchen’ and ‘Operation Hospital Food’, was in Newtownabbey to enrapture his many fans with his marvellous cooking and at the same time to help raise much needed funds for the Elisabeth Svendsen Trust for Children and Donkeys (EST) charity.

To this end, James, ably helped by his erstwhile assistant Chris Start, held sway at two sell-out cooking demonstration shows in Barnabys restaurant in Ballyrobert last Tuesday and Wednesday night, where they enthralled and entertained with their mischievous banter and wonderful cooking skill.

During his time here, James also visited the EST donkey sanctuary in Ballymartin which is dedicated to providing riding therapy with donkeys to children who have special needs and disabilities.

Full story and more pictures in this week’s Times...