Press release
23 April 2009
The White Blackbird Series
Friday 19 June 2009, 7.00pm – 1am
“Ladies and Gentlemen, on Behalf of the Captain and the Entire Crew, I Would Like to
Welcome you aboard Time For Tea’ s Aerobanquet, a Non Stop Service from London to The
Olde Bell, Hurley”
Time For Tea – best known for putting on some of the capital’s most elegant soirées (The Modern Times, The Zeppelin) –
are preparing for take off. Destination: The Olde Bell, Hurley, for a culinary journey set to put performance back into the
art of fine dining. Check in for Time For Tea’s most extraordinary Futurist Aerobanquet, Friday 19 June (7.00 – pm) in
collaboration with Bompas and Parr, featuring a menu co-curated by The Olde Bells’ Head Chef ……..,, in a dining
experience to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Futurist movement.
Grab your passport and board Time For Tea’s airport transfer complete with stewardess and pilot at East, West and
Central London pick up spots. Enjoy the on board entertainment – A Matter of Life and Death – while travel visas and
tickets are distributed.
After ‘Inventina’ Cocktails (champagne and pineapple) passengers will disembark through security (amply staffed by
over enthusiastic air stewardesses). Visa stamping, ticket inspection and security checks will ensue, including a metal
detector coat check: place the belongings to be checked into the tray and put them into the scanner, which will return
your tray with a ‘Joust’ Cocktail (an infusion of red wine, Citronade and Campari garnished with a spear of cheese and
chocolate) alongside your coat check ticket.
As passengers queue they will be offered canapés served from vintage luggage including a combination of black olives,
fennel hearts and kumquats presented with corresponding flags of sandpaper silk and velvet, accompanied by the
sounds of airplanes overhead.
On being guided to their seats by the cabin crew passengers will find place settings including laminated safety cards and
fans, and table centre featuring a light switch that calls Dorien (a comedian and air traffic controller with an
encyclopaedic knowledge of air travel jokes) and his ‘refuelling station’ to replenish supplies of wine.
After a pilot’s welcome, safety demonstration and a brief introduction to Futurism, the starter - a Futurist ‘taster menu’ - will
be served on a made to measure airplane trays. The selection will include Geraniums on a Stick, a Cubist Vegetable
Patch, an Italian Sea and Dates in Moonlight.
Following the starter, there will be a brief hiatus for ‘Take Off’, where passengers will be asked to fasten their seatbelts and
direct their hand fans into their faces as the ‘engines’ are started and the ‘flight’ begins in earnest.
Once sufficient altitude has been reached, the main course - titled ‘Pork Fuselage’ - will follow, in the form of a sliced pork
fillet and apple pie creation featuring a pastry airport and control tower, served with sides of new potatoes and seasonal
greens.
On completing the main course passengers will be asked to brace themselves for a rather bumpy crash landing. Cabin
crew will assist passengers to evacuate into the grounds, where they will discover a crate, still attached to a parachute
and burst open on impact. On further inspection passengers will discover that the crate is full of dessert spoons.
A vintage ambulance, sirens sounding, will race up to attend the crash. It’s doors will burst open and a crew will leap out
with a stretcher containing the definitive futurist jelly, a multi flavoured fresh fruit Barajas Jelly Airport in honour of the
airport designed by famed architect Richard Rogers. This remarkable structure will be accompanied by a Digestive
Landing, a blue chestnut ice cream garnished with pastry airplanes. These will be served post haste to help passengers
get over the shock of the crash.
Keeping spirits sky-high the banquet will be followed by some First Class entertainment including an aeronautical jazz
band, swing dancers and DJ, followed by a chorus line of air stewardesses as a finale. Time For Tea only requests that prior
to departure you check around your seat for any personal belongings to ensure you don’t leave your goody bags
behind.
This event marks the second of a series of events hosted by Time For Tea to take place at Stoke Place and The Olde Bell
both part of the Dhillon Hotel Group.
“On behalf of the entire crew, Time For Tea would like to thank you for joining us on the flight and look forward to seeing
you on board in the near future”
Note to editors:
Tickets are available for £80 via Ticketweb www.ticketweb.co.uk
For more information on the Time For Tea parties at the Olde Bell log onto www.thewhiteblackbird.com
Coaches will depart at 7.00pm from the three following central London locations – Shoreditch, West End and Notting Hill
A return coach trip ticket is available for £15.00 , tickets in advance only via Ticketweb
Coaches will return at 1am
Images of The Olde Bell can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/37028771@N07/show/with/3409249696/
Press Information from: Alexa Perrin apr-consultancy on 0203 051 8784 alexa@apr-consultancy.com