aat: events are not limited to organising successful sports events. Years of experience working on Surrey’s largest half marathon equips our team perfectly with the skills required to deliver large-scale community events like 2019’s Woking Food and Drink Festival. This multi-award-winning event was voted ‘Best Local Food Event’ in 2015 , ’16 & ’17 and was declared 2018’s ‘Food Hero’ at the Surrey Life Food and Drink Awards.
Woking Food and Drink Festival is a spectacular 3-day summer festival held in Jubliee Square and the surrounding streets. Up to 100,000 ‘foodies’ from across the region flock to the free event to enjoy pop-up dining experiences that showcase flavours from across the globe; served with a side of street entertainment and live music.
The professional demo theatre (sponsored by Magimix) hosts a smorgasbord of top culinary experts. Both celebrity and local chefs offer technical demonstrations, mini masterclasses and informative bite-size talks. Along with guest appearances from Michelin start heavyweights and culinary influencers, the event also features hugely entertaining chilli-easting contest. Sadly Toby did not participate in this year’s contest (he can’t handle anything even remotely spicy) but nevertheless, it culminated in a thrilling finale after 16 chillis (including the Carolina Reaper – the world’s hottest chilli) had been consumed by the final pair.
Toby did, however, seize the opportunity with the rest of the team to help deliver the event; filling the roles of Site Manager, Event Silver (Safety Director), NEBOSH qualified Health and Safety Manager, Control Room Loggist and Zone Managers across the numerous sites. Those managing the control room replicated the friendly and dynamic team typically created at aat: events – building excellent working relationships with security, medics and other key players. The team demonstrated their professional capabilities in managing the site safely during install and de-rig, leading briefings and site inductions, motivating teams and solving complex event issues – showcasing aat’s ability to successfully deliver community events beyond the realms of sports.
Perks of the job did, of course, include plenty of opportunities to sample the fruits of this annual festival; so as a result, we’re excited to inject a flavour of the festival into some of our upcoming events too. In doing so, we can champion local talent whilst making continual improvements the overall aat: event experience.
We extend a special thanks to Woking Borough Council for contacting us to deliver this thoroughly enjoyable event; they are a fantastic team to work with.