Cross-dressed for a hot dinner date

The truth is out. My husband Tim (finance director and chairman) wears women's clothes. But I doubt anyone would have suspected his secret at the Catey awards this month.

We tore into London along the M4 for the 6.45pm kick-off of the awards. As ever, time was against us. We charged into the hostelry where we were staying overnight to get ready, while the taxi waited impatiently.

Clothes were flying in all directions. Tim ripped open the suit carrier. "Oh no," he said, "I've forgotten my dress shirt."

Last laugh

Seconds felt like hours as we stared at each other and tried to think of a plan.

Then he gave me that look and pulled out my white blouse, which I had brought for work the next day.

After moans of "the sleeves are too short" and "why do women's shirts button the wrong way?", the black bow tie was added and we left.

But I had the last laugh. That evening, I watched him get hotter and hotter as he kept his jacket firmly on.

It's been a month of parties and celebrations at Charlton House. It started with an annual summer gathering at one of our clients, Brooklands Museum. A lavish event was laid on for VIP guests and royalty along the theme of Formula One racing. Raffles and auctions added to the occasion, with a finale of Scalextric racing. It was a joy to see men being boys.

In stark contrast, burgers and chips were on the menu for the anniversary of our company formation - five years of staying independent and loving every minute of it. We teamed up for a spot of competitive bowling at Heathrow Bowl.

We have also added two more awards to our collection: "Innovation through Leadership" for the Oxfordshire Business of the Year and the Thames Valley Business of the Year's "Enterprise Award".

Strong position

Two recruits - Sue Chapman and Richard Leith - have joined our head office. They will work in our operations team. It has been a struggle to find the right individuals with the appropriate qualities and passion for catering which we, as a company, have.

Sue joins us from BCS (or BET to you and me) and before that, she had a successful career with Eurest (or Compass to you and me). Richard joins us from Baxter & Platts. These appointments put us in a strong position for our growth plans.

We believe it is important to keep our ratio of operators to contracts in reasonable proportion. This doesn't always help the bottom line, but that has never been our main consideration. That doesn't mean profits are not important to us - they are just one of the many components of bringing the business together.