Royal to spend day working at Huntly bakery

Issued by Rivermill Bakeries Limited

News Release
October 21, 2005.

Royal to spend day working at Huntly bakery

The Queen's granddaughter, Zara Phillips, is to visit Huntly next week (Thursday, October 27) to spend a day working at the River Mill Bakery.

While she won't be baking bread, putting pink icing on sticky buns or making cookies, Zara will earn a cool $70,000 for her efforts.

However, she won't get to keep the cash even though she's becoming personal assistant to River Mill owner, Gerald Shand.

It might seem like a "lot of dough" for most people, but Mr Shand has no regrets at the cost of his new assistant.

The money, in the form of an over-size cheque, is going straight to charity, Catwalk Trust, of which Zara is the international patron.

Earlier this year Catwalk held a hugely successful auction in Auckland, raising over $400,000 for spinal cord research.

The Trust was established by a group with links to a friend, Catriona Williams, who was critically injured in a riding accident and who became a tetraplegic as a result.

Mr Shand, who also races and breeds horses, was at the auction and was the highest bidder when Zara's services were offered.

"She's such a lovely person, I couldn't resist the chance to have her come to Huntly and for Catwalk to benefit," he said.

The day will begin with a photo shoot for media and then Zara will join Mr Shand, friends and staff and Catwalk founder, Mrs Williams, for morning tea.

She will be shown over River Mill's bakery operation which was started in Huntly by Mr Shand's grandfather in 1917.

The bakery is one of the town's largest employers with 120 workers, and it sells over half a million loaves of bread a week and 500,000 cookies.

The rest of the day is regarded as private, although Mr Shand is hoping to show Zara his horses.

Zara is visiting New Zealand for a few days on a private visit just weeks after becoming the 2005 FEI European Eventing champion and her British team winning the team title for the sixth consecutive year.

Her win came 34 years after her mother, Princess Anne, had also won the title.

ENDS

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