LAST week's brilliant Festival of Food and Drink showed York's finest restaurants, hotels and chefs to be some of the most talented you could ever hope to encounter.

As the organiser of the Festival Pudding And Port Party it also highlighted to me how big-hearted and public-spirited they were.

The Pudding And Port Party not only showcased what delights York provides but also, by restaurants and hotels donating puddings for people to sample, raised money for the British Red Cross.

Their response was overwhelming. Chefs donated the most stunning desserts of generous proportions, taking time out of their busy day to deliver puddings, offer any help they could and making it so memorable for all those involved.

We raised almost £1,000 on the day and, because they had also donated the recipes, we hope sales of the recipe books will boost this amount further.

Not many cities could bring such a marvellous team together and I want to thank all the chefs from hotels and restaurants who made the Pudding Party such a resounding success.

Thanks also to the York Hospitality Association for making it all possible.

Lisa Bass,

Senior services manager (Yorkshire),

British Red Cross,

Marsden Park,

Clifton Moor, York

Updated: 09:46 Friday, September 30, 2005