On Tuesday 21st November, we were delighted to host our first Friends of the RAF Club social event which was a raging success.

The Black-Tie Gala Dinner was hosted by Club Chair Air Vice-Marshal The Hon David Murray CVO OBE DL and featured Club Vice-President Air Chief Marshal The Lord Peach GBE KCB DL as the guest speaker.

The attendees comprised the Friends of the RAF Club and their guests. The Friends scheme recognises Members that make donations of £120-£499 (Bronze Friend); £500-£2499 (Silver Friend) or £2500+ (Gold Friend) over the course of the year. Donations made by the Friends are used to help fund the rolling refurbishment projects that were put on hold due to the pandemic.

On the evening, the Friends enjoyed a fantastic three-course Dinner planned and prepared by our talented apprentice Chefs, Mitchel Homden, Denis Soloman, Essence Ajala and Jhoven- Son Navarro, who were then introduced by our Executive Chef Michael Dutnall. Chef Michael is passionate about mentoring young chefs as they start their culinary careers. The Friends of The RAF Club plan to aid this noble objective and part sponsor this apprenticeship scheme to keep the culinary standards at the Club high whilst providing a career changing opportunity for a young professional.

The Dinner was followed by a captivating talk by Lord Peach who reflected on his career spanning five decades’ of military achievements. Lord Peach (Stuart) is the UK Prime Minister's Special Envoy to the Western Balkans and a Cross Bench Peer. During his exceptional military career, Lord Peach completed four, four star and two three star appointments including Chair of the NATO Military Committee and UK Chief of Defence Staff. His flying career encompassed Canberra and Tornado as a navigator, weapons and electronic warfare instructor. He has served on many operations and in many countries from the 1970s to the 2020s. He has published widely on military history and strategic affairs and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Defence Studies, Downing College Cambridge, and former Chair of the Imperial War Museum.

We are delighted to launch the Friends of the RAF Club social events to thank those who go above and beyond to support the Club. We have received wonderful feedback from the evening, one Friend said “The Friend’s Dinner combined the elegance and formality of a great event with the friendliness and thoughtfulness that I associate with our Club. Lord Peach spoke eloquently and seriously about defence matters and his own important career and  his speech and the questions afterwards prompted more interesting debate at the end of the evening. The dinner itself was delicious and a great credit to the young apprentice chefs”.

Over the last few years, the Friends’ have supported the new lobby and front doors project, staff welfare and more recently provided a contribution towards the renovation of the façade of our Grade II listed 'home from home' to maintain the high standards of the Club for generations to come. As well as supporting the Chef apprenticeship, the donations from the Friends will support the upcoming refurbishment and rewiring of the President’s Room in 2024. If you would like to find out more about becoming a Friend of the RAF Club, please email our Director of Fundraising, Claire Dakin via claire@rafclub.org.uk