Fish and chip businesses from all over the UK gathered at South Queensferry’s Crab & Lobster Fish Shack last week for a special event celebrating the work of the Fisherman’s Mission.
The Fishermen’s Mission charity provides practical, financial and emotional support to workers in the fisheries industry, including a 24/7 emergency service to assist with accidents or illness at sea.
It is also the chosen charity of frying equipment supplier KFE, which annually musters the fish’n’chip sector to raise funds via the ‘KFE On a Mission’ initiative.
This involves ten of the nation’s finest fish and chip operators offering hands on training sessions to other fish and chip businesses, boosting their industry skills in return for a donation to the Mission.
At the end of this training, all the businesses involved come together for a dinner and charity auction, which this year took place at the recently-opened Crab & Lobster Fish Shack, owned and operated by father-and-son team Bryan and Jack Coghill.
Said Bryan: “What a great night we all had here in South Queensferry. It’s been an honour for us to host this dinner and party.
“We had quite a few operators came up from England to our beautiful part of Scotland. They have loved it here, and it’s been a great opportunity for us to show off our restaurant which has only been open for nine months.”
Managing Director at KFE, Tanya Henderson, said: “Our heartfelt thanks go to the Coghill family and all their team at The Crab & Lobster Fish Shack. They laid on a top class night of food and hospitality which was befitting of an event which is very special to us, held in our company’s 30th anniversary year.
“They are yet another superior fish & chip operator keeping standards high and ensuring that fish & chips remains the nation’s favourite.”
The Coghills have made quite an impression with their new venture. As well as being chosen to host the KFE Mission event, their Shack secured a runner-up spot in the Best Newcomer award at the National Fish & Chip Awards, held last month in London.
The father and son are already plotting how they will mark National Fish & Chip Day, on Friday 5th of June, with an ambitious north, south, east and west ‘Flying Fish Tour of Scotland’.
They plan to stage a one-day dash around other fish & chip businesses, starting off in Edinburgh, then heading north to Shetland, then over to the West of Scotland, and back down to Dumfries & Galloway, frying up a fish supper in each, before dashing back to the Crab & Lobster Fish Shack in South Queensferry for a celebration with staff, supporters, and customers.
The duo will be asking for sponsorship donations for their restaurant’s own adopted charity, Radio Forth’s Cash for Kids.
“Giving back is important to us, and we’ve been supporting Cash for Kids since we opened, donating over £2.5k before Christmas,” said Bryan. “We thought that National Fish & Chip Day would be the ideal day to do something ambitious, to grab the headlines, as that is the National Day when we all celebrate what has become our favourite dish.
“Our friends in the industry have been extremely supportive of this idea, and we appreciate any help they are able to give us, whether it’s donating something towards the travel costs, or donating fish, potatoes or other ingredients to the various businesses at which we’ll be frying.
“It’s an ambitious challenge for sure, travelling to all four corners of the country as fast as we can. It will be well worth it though!” finished Bryan.
