This year's Open Championship - which will be held at Royal Lytham and St Annes Golf Club - has shown commitment to sourcing local produce for the Championships official hospitality, and so has taken the time to sample the regions finest produce, selecting only the best for the prestigious event.

 The fine selection of products made using locally sourced ingredients include cheeses from Dewlays Cheesemakers in Preston, Jam and Chutneys from Blackburn's Reedys Naturally, and smoked meats and fish from Port of Lancaster Smokehouse.

 To uncover these local producers, The Open’s Official Hospitality worked closely with Lancashire’s tourism experts Marketing Lancashire, who invited some of Lancashire’s rural producers to present their produce to Executive Head Chef Tom Parry, at a specially organised 'Meet the Producer' event.

 The event resulted in contracts for four Lancashire producers. They also later contracted Bolton based Greenhalgh's bakery, who source a variety of Lancashire's produce for their speciality pies, including Steak and Lancaster brewery Ale Pie and Dewlay Cheese Potato and Leek Pie, both of which will be served at The Open.

 County Councillor Jim Lawrenson, lead member for tourism in Lancashire said: "Lancashire is home to the some of the country's finest food growers and producers, with farming and food production being an important part of the Lancashire economy, especially in rural areas."

 "When The Open returns to the county, we're delighted that the expected 180,000 visitors will be able to enjoy some locally grown and produced Lancashire food."

 The Open Championship takes place at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club from 19-22 July and will be preceded by four practice days from the 15-18 July, where visitors can see the golfing legends in "full swing" before the Championship has even begun.

The Open Championship Hospitality Sales Director, David MacCallum said: “The Open Championship is one of the world’s leading sports events and we are offering businesses, families and friends the opportunity to enjoy a fantastic day of sport and hospitality. We have teamed up with Hilton Hotels and Resorts to extend our offering beyond our two excellent hospitality packages and provide all accommodation needs as well.”

The Open Championship Official Hospitality invites guests to extend their hospitality experience and relax with an overnight stay with Hilton Hotels. A selection of hotels in central London and Kent will be available on request, so you can wake up refreshed and ready for your onward journey. Whether you are after the iconic landmark of The Waldorf Hilton in London’s historic centre, the salubrious surroundings and luxury of the London Hilton on Park Lane or the convenience of the Hilton Maidstone, this partnership will have the right package for your needs.

Choose from classic luxury in the heart of London and modern comfortable hotels in convenient locations close to transport links, all offering business facilities so you can keep in touch with the office wherever you need to be.

A day at the hospitality at The Open over the week end, with overnight accommodation in single occupancy ranges from £608 per person inc VAT at the Hilton London Canary Wharf, £712 at The Waldorf Hilton and £941 at the London Hilton on Park Lane. 

First up was the B2B Marketing Awards, held on the 25th November at the Honourable Artillery Company in London and hosted by piano-playing funnyman, Tim Minchin. A glittering gala dinner ceremony saw 700 attendees celebrate the awards which are designed to recognise excellence in the long-ignored field of business-to-business marketing.

Sodexo Prestige were recognised in the ‘Best use of an Email Campaign’ category for The Open Championship Challenge, devised by Cyance. Selling corporate hospitality in current economic conditions was a challenge few companies would have relished and achieving success with email acquisition is harder work than ever.

Messages were created to each of the markets whether it was encouraging people in Scotland to support their ‘Local Event’ or to local businesses who were encouraged to attend a ‘traditional Scottish event’ or to the North West of England who were ‘within easy reach of St Andrews’. Additionally, the financial benefits to businesses of entertaining at such events were sent to MD’s and FD’S of companies whereas those being sent to non-budgetary holding titles carried a more personal message.

As a result of the campaign the online traffic increased by 250% with over 500 leads resulting from the campaign with many national companies looking to book Open hospitality next year.

The Eventia Awards followed a day later in London’s Park Lane Hilton where 800 guests were hosted by BBC Breakfast presenters’ Bill Turnbull and Sian Williams. The entertainment came from X-Factor finalist, Paije Richardson, who wowed guests as they partied into the early hours of Saturday morning.

Sodexo Prestige won the ‘Best Hospitality Event’ category, overcoming prestigious sporting venues such as the O2 in London and Stoke Park’s Country Club and Resort. Since winning the six-year contract to provide full catering services at The Open Championship in February 2008, Sodexo Prestige have made considerable investments into creating a new standard of sporting hospitality. The 150th anniversary of The Open Championship at St Andrews saw 78 chefs, 20 managers and up to 120 on-site staff run nine styles of catering; assisted service, coffee bar, bars, three table service restaurants, patrons, hospitality and media catering. A strong emphasis on ‘going local’ was placed across all areas of hospitality with some 70% of staff being recruited from the local area whilst 85% of all food was sourced in Scotland.

Notable additions to the success at St Andrews were designer marquees, top class hostesses, a business centre, private gardens on site and the presence of Open Hospitality Ambassador Tony Jacklin who chatted with guests in the Clubhouse hospitality facility. Sodexo Prestige also partnered CityJet to make the customer journey as smooth as possible and launched flight/transfers inclusive packages for City time-strapped executives.

Senior Sales Manager at Sodexo Prestige, David Maccallum, collected the award on behalf of The Open Championship hospitality team and said:

“An incredible amount of work went into providing such a broad and high quality hospitality service at The Open Championship at St Andrews and this Eventia Award is testimony of that. I accept this on behalf of the whole hospitality team at St Andrews and we look forward to welcoming you all to Kent for The Open Championship at Royal St George’s next year”.

A fine evening for Sodexo Prestige was rounded off with additional Eventia Awards in both the Event Hotel/Venue (capacity 251-750) and the Event Hotel/Venue (capacity 250 or less) categories. The Great North Museum (capacity 251-750) picked up a Gold Award while the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (capacity 250 or less) was awarded Silver.

For the first time since 2003, the Championship is coming to the Kent course of Royal St George’s. From Thursday 14 to Sunday 17 July 2011, the world’s most recognised golfers will battle for the coveted Claret Jug at this historic venue.

Established more than 30 years ago, PremiAir is the largest operator of executive helicopters in the UK with six bases located across the south of England. Every helicopter operated by PremiAir is sumptuously appointed with a luxurious interior, twin turbine engines and the capability to fly at night. Clients can choose from a selection of standard departure points, or alternatively obtain a quotation from their desired location. With over 13,000 landing sites in its UK database, PremiAir can always source a suitable site close to the required address.

Typical flight times to Royal St George’s range from 40 minutes from the London area and 20 minutes from Biggin Hill airport, where PremiAir will be offering a “park-and-fly” service. Upon arrival at Royal St George’s car transfers will be available to transport guests to the hospitality marquees. Prices start from £2000 (plus VAT) for four people sharing a Twin Squirrel helicopter.

David MacCallum, Sales Director for Sodexo Prestige, commented: “The Open Championship 2011 is one of golf’s ultimate spectacles. To make this an occasion never to forget, guests can arrive in style with their own private chartered PremiAir helicopter and then be transferred to the hospitality marquees where we are offering two fantastic hospitality packages to provide you with the perfect opportunity to spend all day with your valued guests or clients.”

Neil Gibson, Director of Charter & Management at PremiAir said, “If you are given the option of driving, getting the train or a 40 minute helicopter flight, enjoying the stunning aerial views of Royal St George’s golf course then we believe our clients would elect to take the scenic route. With PremiAir every stage of the journey is managed seamlessly, transferring clients, from door to door. Our Open Championship helicopter shuttle packages are now on sale offering very competitive rates and what better way to arrive at what will undoutedbly be one of the sporting highlights of the year.”

Hospitality for the 2011 Open Championship at Royal St George’s (14-17 July) is now on sale. To book or for more information please call +44 (0)844 371 0883 or email officialhospitality@opengolf.com.

For further information or to obtain a formal quotation, please contact the PremiAir Charter Services Team; Telephone 01895 830900 or email charter@premiair-aviation.com.

David MacCallum, Sales Director for The Open Championship Official Hospitality opened the evening with a welcoming speech to the guests and was followed by Nigel Collor, Councillor for Dover District Council. Cllr Collor discussed the importance of the event coming to Kent and the economic impact this will have to the wider Kent community. He looked forward to welcoming over 200,000 guests to the course and stressed how easily accessible the golf course is from London with the high speed Channel Tunnel Rail Link. Michael Wells, Assistant Director of Championships at The R&A concluded the speeches and spoke about the history of the event, how much he was looking forward to another thrilling Championship at Royal St George’s.

Guests were able to have their photos taken with the famous Claret Jug as well as chat to the ex-England Rugby Player, Matt Dawson who is the official Ambassador for Sodexo Prestige and also a keen golfer.

The Open celebrated its 150th anniversary this year, and Open Golf Official Hospitality, operated by Sodexo Prestige, had 800 staff working at the event for client, The R&A.

Speaking after the awards ceremony at the Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow on September 9, Sodexo Prestige regional director Austin Tilsley said: “The Open Championship is truly one of the greatest sporting events in the world and it is a privilege for our team to be associated with such a high profile event.

The R&A are a fantastic client to work with and they fully understand and appreciate the many challenges we face during the event. For our chefs, managers and staff, this event gives our organisation the opportunity to display our full range of skills at the highest possible level."

Of course, in 2011 The Open Championship will be moving to Royal St Georges in Kent, but customers can be assured that with the same award winning hospitality team looking after them, their hospitality experience will be on par for a great day out.  To book your 2011 Open golf hospitality experience, click here.