AS the need for their support grows, those behind the Lake District Farmers Armstrong Family Charitable Fund are determined to reach out to as many people as possible. With tickets due to go on sale for their fifth annual celebrity chef fundraiser, EMMA PRESTON finds out how the event’s organisers plan to raise more money than ever before.

THE need to smash fundraising targets for another year running has never been felt more keenly, as organisers of a popular annual charity event aim to go bigger and better than ever before.

Tickets for this year’s celebrity chef event, hosted in aid of the Lake District Farmers Armstrong Family Charitable Fund, go on sale on Monday as demand for the fund’s support reaches its highest ever point. Since Barrow businessman and philanthropist, Ray Armstrong, put his name to the fundraising scheme, more than £185,000 has been raised in his honour.

Mr Armstrong, who was diagnosed with liver and pancreatic cancer in August 2012, wanted to leave a legacy of support for needy causes, community groups, charities and families in south Cumbria. His companies, PKA and Lake District Farmers, have been hosting the annual events in his memory since he died in April 2013.

An increasing number of applications for grants is just one of the reasons behind the decision to expand the fund’s yearly celebrity chef event to a four-night extravaganza spanning two weekends at two different venues for the first time ever.

Dan Austin, managing director of Lake District Farmers, said: “The applications we’ve had this year have been so substantial, and these people really need our help. We’re funding more and more, and the pressure is on us now to make more money.

“Sitting at your desk reading applications and realising you can’t help everybody is one of the toughest things I’ve had to do in my whole career, so we have to accept that responsibility to raise more so that we can help more people than ever.”

With last year’s three-night celebrity chef weekend having raised around £30,000, Mr Austin and his team hope to push that up to at least £35,000 through the event’s new format. It will take place across the weekends of Friday February 3 and Saturday 4, at Clarence House Country Hotel and Restaurant in Dalton, and Friday February 10 and Saturday 11 at the Abbey House Hotel in Barrow. Tickets cost £100 each, while there will also be some special Valentine’s packages up for grabs for the Abbey House weekend.

Mr Austin said: “We have an incredibly special relationship with Clarence House, who have hosted and sponsored the event ever since it started, and we’re bringing this year’s new chefs - some really big hitters - there in a celebration of that. The additional event at Abbey House gives us a chance to give diners a romantic, fine dining experience the weekend closest to Valentine’s day and could potentially see us sell an extra 100 tickets.”

The two new names for this year’s event, both due to appear at Clarence House on Friday February 3, are Phil Howard and Rachel Humphrey. Mr Howard, a two-Michelin Star chef of 17 years, is embarking on new styles and ideas after selling his famous Mayfair restaurant, The Square. It means Dalton’s diners will be sampling cutting-edge culinary creations.

Ms Humphrey, meanwhile, became the first female head chef at the Michelle Roux Jr’s world-famous Le Gavroche in 2008. Among a host of promised treats, she will be bringing to Cumbria a special cheese made exclusively for the TV star chef and enjoyed only by those who dine in his restaurants.

The pair will be joined by Tom Aikens who, when he was just 26, became the youngest chef to hold two Michelin stars.

The Michelin star-studded line-up continues on Saturday February 4. London restaurateur and Dalton regular, Jeff Galvin will join Phil Campbell of Goodman steak restaurants and Great British Menu 2016 winner Mark Froydenlund, fresh from his 10/10 performance serving up Lake District Farmers’ veal.

The following Saturday will see the return of Saturday Kitchen guest presenter, Angela Hartnett as well as Alyn Williams, a former protegee of both Marcus Wareing and Gordon Ramsay and now hugely successful in his own kitchen. The night before, guests will have enjoyed the return of regulars Brett Graham and Cumbria’s own Simon Rogan.

It has been another hugely successful year for Mr Rogan, who is himself a television regular, with Cartmel’s L’Enclume being named as The Good Food Guide’s best restaurant in Britain for the fourth year running.

Of the esteemed chef’s continued support for the event, Mr Austin said: “Even as he has become more and more successful, Simon has never stepped away from his responsibilities to local people. He supports the event every single year, and we’re very honoured to have him involved.

“Over the years, he and Brett Graham have forged a real partnership in the kitchen - they seem to really enjoy working together and get a lot from it - so we’re really excited to pair those two together once again.”

Visit www.nwemail.co.uk to read each chef’s full menus for the event.

To book tickets for February 3 or 4, call 01229 870168. To book for February 10 or 11, call 01229 838282.

In next Friday’s Evening Mail: Meet the chefs - Dan Austin shares the stories of this year’s celebrity guests.