The 17th Lord Mayor’s Big Curry Lunch took place on Thursday 18 April at London’s Guildhall, hosted by The Rt Hon The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli.
The Royal guest at this year’s Lunch was Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal. She met veterans and beneficiaries of all three services, including those who have been supported through the programmes directly funded by the Lunch, as well as sponsors, the teams running the Livery Stalls, guests, and volunteers.
We were delighted that three Army Benevolent Fund beneficiaries also attended as our special guests: former soldiers Joyce Gilbert and Matt Dumper and serving soldier WO2 Dave Lynch.
Since 2019, the Lord Mayor’s Big Curry Lunch has aligned with the employability strand of the Lord Mayor’s “A Better City for All” strategy, with the money raised helping Armed Forces veterans into rewarding employment. This year the Lord Mayor’s Big Curry Lunch Committee hopes to fund up to 16 veterans through the Pain Management Programme at the King Edward VII Hospital’s Centre for Veterans’ Health, and 65 veterans through the Lifeworks programme, which help to prepare former soldiers for employment in the civilian world.
The three single Service charities (the Army Benevolent Fund, the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity and the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund) are very grateful to The Lord Mayor of London for hosting the Lunch. We also thank the principal sponsor, Azad Ayub, the Lord Mayor’s Big Curry Lunch Committee, and all our generous commercial, Livery, Ward Club, City Club and private supporters, over 300 military and civilian volunteers and guests who again made this year’s event such a memorable occasion.
Given this year’s record attendance of 1,650, we expect to add significantly to the £3.3 million already raised by the Lunch to help UK Armed Forces veterans between 2008 and 2023.
Our charity hosts a series of Big Curry events throughout the year across the UK. Find out more about the Yorkshire Big Curry Lunch and Edinburgh Big Curry Lunch on our website.