Peterborough mum and daughters to host quiz and curry night for Cancer Research

The event, hosted by Jas Kaur and her daughters Lachami, Simaranjit, Neelam and Karishma, will be held later this month as part of a month of fundraising for the charity.

Jas and her family hit the headlines earlier this year when they cooked 100 curry dinners on St Valentine’s Day and distributed them without charge to 50 couples across the city who were struggling.

Jas said: “We had originally planned to buy a meal for one couple unable to treat themselves to a romantic dinner, but after we put the offer on a local Facebook page we were swamped with nominations.

“Reading so many stories of people having lost jobs, suffering illness and financial hardship, my girls and I offered the couples that had replied to us the option of a freshly cooked Indian curry dinner delivered to their home without any charge.

“We had so many requests, but in the end agreed to cook 100 meals for 50 couples.

“So, on St Valentine’s Day while many wives and girlfriends were waking up to breakfast in bed, I was out at 7am buying fresh ingredients while my daughters were peeling and prepping vegetables.

“We finally finished cooking all the food and then packing it into containers by 2pm. Then along with my husband Del Singh we set out in two cars to deliver our food parcels of love to those that had asked for them.

“I remember getting home totally shattered at 7pm having spent literally the entire day cooking and delivering food, only to find that I’d made no plans for our own food that evening.

“Del said he’d treat us all to a takeaway meal and joked he knew of a great curry restaurant! After a day of cooking curries none of us girls were in the mood for that, so we opted instead for a Chinese meal delivered to our door, only difference being that we paid for ours.

“We weren’t prepared for all the lovely feedback we got on Facebook and messages sent to us. I for one slept soundly that night knowing I’d had the best St Valentine’s Day helping others enjoy theirs”.

Now the family are getting back in the kitchen - this time to raise money for a charity which is close to their hearts.

Jas said: “Having lost both my father and father-in-law to cancer, and more recently a close friend of my husband’s who was only 47, I agreed to do some fundraising for CRUK’s Relay for Life Peterborough. As a member of our family team named, “Del Singh’s Midnite Runners” I planned to do a bit of running, but my girls and I wondered if we could do something similar based around food to help fundraise.

“One idea was to cook and deliver food like we did last time, but this time under the banner of “Eat2Beat Cancer”. However, the logistics of cooking lots of different dishes to individual demands sounded unworkable.

“So instead, what we agreed to do was help arrange a Quiz & Curry Night on Friday 24th September 7pm-10pm at The Focus Centre in Dogsthorpe. With my brainbox husband Del doing the quiz and me and my girls doing the curry.

“Since we did our meals on St Valentine’s Day, my daughter Simaranjit and her husband Bhupinder have opened Grillz Chicken at Paynels Fish Bar in Orton Goldhay and have kindly agreed to us using their facilities to prepare all the food. “The menu on the night will include samosa, spring rolls with chutneys for starters, chicken and vegetable curries with rice and naan as a main course and gulab jamun sweets for dessert.

“All this food and entry to the quiz costs a mere £10 per person, and we are looking for teams of four people to participate.

“There will be a cash prize for the winning team on the night.

“As all money from ticket sales after costs will be going to Cancer Research UK, this is a great opportunity to help make a difference to beat cancer sooner whilst enjoying a fun night out in Peterborough. There will be a licensed bar and a garden area available too. A huge thank you to Christine and the team at the Focus for making the centre available to us free of charge on the night.

The first ever Cancer Research UK Relay for Life event in Peterborough will take place on Sunday, October 10 at Ferry Meadows between 12pm and 5pm.

Although the usual format for Relay for Life events is teams running and walking around a track for 24hrs non-stop because cancer doesn’t sleep so, neither do they, this year’s event in Peterborough has been scaled back to a shorter day event because of Covid-19.

The Peterborough event at Ferry Meadows won’t simply be teams running around a track, it will be more of a family day out to celebrate the efforts of the 17 local fundraising teams, all looking to help plug the huge hole in cancer research coffers caused by Covid-19.

Tickets for the curry and quiz are on sale online now priced £10 per person at: https://buytickets.at/quizcurry2beatcancer/

In order to ensure the family can prepare the right number of meals all tickets must be purchased in advance and there will be no tickets available on the night.