The Drinks Trust welcomes three new patrons

Andy Clarke, Ian Harris MBE and Helen McGinn have joined the likes of Jancis Robinson MW and Ian Burrell as Patrons of The Drinks Trust, bringing the role call of drinks industry names to ten.

In March 2020, The Drinks Trust introduced its Patron program to raise awareness and increase the charity’s reach and impact. The initial Patrons were Matthew Rhys, Jancis Robinson MW OBE and Olly Smith, and Founder Patron Tom Yusef. They were joined by Ian Burrell, Becky Paskin and Jaega Wise in 2021.

New patron Andy Clarke commented: “I am beyond excited about becoming a Patron of The Drinks Trust. It is an honour to join a team that supports people in the industry in so many ways.”

Clarke noted that he is keen to provide help to “those who need support with their wellbeing in order to keep our drinks industry family happy and healthy”.

Clarke has worked in food, drink and travel television for a number of years.  He has produced and directed programmes such as James Martin’s French and American Adventures, and ‘Gordon, Gino & Fred: Road Trip’ for ITV; ‘Rachel Khoo’s Chocolate’ for Food Network / Discovery+; and most recently ‘The Great Cookbook Challenge with Jamie Oliver’ for Channel 4.

In 2020, Clarke joined the team on ITV’s ‘This Morning’ as a cocktail expert and is now regularly appearing on ITV’s ‘Love your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh’ as food, wine and drinks expert. Clarke’s first book ‘Home Bar’, a cocktail book will be published by Welbeck Publishing in May.

Chief executive of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust Ian Harris has also become a Patron of The Drinks Trust.

With 20 years experience in the role as CEO, under Harris’ leadership, the annual student numbers grew from 10,000 per annum in 2002 to over 108,000 in his final year, and WSET qualifications are now available in 75 countries.

In 2015 WSET was awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise (International Trade). Harris was awarded an MBE in the 2018 New Year’s Honours List for services to the wine and spirits industry.

“I was delighted and honoured to be asked to become a Patron of The Drinks Trust at a time when I am stepping down as CEO of WSET. The work of the charity has always been close to my heart, and I have done several charity bike rides in the past 10 years to provide tangible, monetary support,” Harris said. “I look forward to helping The Drinks Trust in any way I can.”

Helen McGinn is an author, drinks writer and presenter. Following a decade-long career as a supermarket wine buyer, she founded wine blog The Knackered Mother’s Wine Club.

McGinn co-chairs the International Wine Challenge, is the drinks writer for the Daily Mail’s Femail Magazine and Waitrose Food Magazine and regularly appears on television as a wine expert on BBC1’s Saturday Kitchen and ITV’s This Morning.

She said of her new role: “I’m so pleased to be joining The Drinks Trust as a Patron and can’t wait to support the Trust in raising awareness of the wonderful work being done across so many areas.

“The trade has been good to me for many years so I’m particularly keen to help with initiatives for those wanting to further develop their careers in the world of drinks.”

Ross Carter, CEO of The Drinks Trust, added: “We are honoured and thrilled to welcome Andy, Ian and Helen as new Patrons of our charity.

“As we continue to support the drinks hospitality industry, working with Andy, Ian, Helen and all our existing Patrons, we hope to be able to deliver our services to a wider audience and, in turn, have a significant impact on the lives and careers of our workforce in the coming months and years.”