Derbyshire restaurant celebrates a decade of dining with donations to charity

COSMO restaurant, based on London Road, in Derby, held a birthday party for local dignitaries after reaching the landmark anniversary last month.

The profits of a charity raffle held on the night have been shared between Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre, which has been the restaurant’s nominated charity for several years, and the good causes supported by new Mayor of Derby, Councillor Alan Graves.

Cheques for £550 were presented to the Mayor and Alan Grimadell, chair of Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre which provides holidays in Skegness for deprived children from the city.

COSMO director Kan Koo said: “We are very proud to have been a strong presence on the Derby dining scene for a decade, particularly since during the last 10 years we have experienced a pandemic, a cost of living crisis, a shortage of skilled staff and supply chain issues caused by Brexit.

“But we are pleased to say that COSMO has weathered the storms and while many other restaurants, both locally and nationally, have been forced to close we have continued to thrive.

“We have always supported local charities wherever possible and as a family restaurant we have a particular soft spot for Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre which provides breaks for children who wouldn’t otherwise visit the seaside.

“We are very much looking forward to the next 10 years and hope that the good people of Derby continue to support us.”

The Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre has been going for 132 years and provides five-day stays at its specialist home in Skegness. Children are nominated to have a week at its ‘Skeggy home’ if it is felt they may not otherwise get a break, due to financial hardship or other reasons such as being a young carer.

Charity chairman Alan Grimadell said: “We are very grateful to COSMO and all the guests who attended the 10th anniversary dinner. Every donation helps us continue to support children who are badly in need of a break and may not otherwise get one with everything that is affecting so many in our society.

“We also appreciate that times are hard for the restaurant industry too, so we are extremely thankful that COSMO continues to support us.”

Councillor Graves has not yet decided which charities he intends to support during his tenure at Mayor of Derby.