Category: News

A Warwick restaurant scored for a local children’s charity thanks to a special visit from a snooker legend.

‘An Evening With Snooker Legend Dennis Taylor,’ raised £400 for Molly Ollys at Warwick Spice last week.

The audience heard from the former World Champion, renowned for his sense of humour and trademark oversized spectacles, as he recounted notable events from the sport over the past 40 years – including his epic battle against reigning champion Steve Davis to win his World Championship title in 1985.

The famous live black ball final went down in sporting history as one of the tensest ever played and attracted more than 18.5million TV viewers.

Supported by video, the talk looked back over his career both on and off the table, including his 2005 Strictly Come Dancing appearance and BBC commentator status and people also had the opportunity to get a signed photo.

Dennis Taylor said: “It was great to visit Warwick Spice once again and sample the fantastic food cooked to the highest quality by the team. And with the wonderful bonus of supporting a fabulous local charity such as Molly Ollys. Thank you so much to everyone who came and supported them. It was a wonderful evening.”

A spokesperson for Warwick Spice said: “It was great to welcome Dennis Taylor back to the restaurant 12 years after his last visit, especially for what was the 40^th anniversary of his iconic World Championship win – a record still not beaten in any other sport!

“He gave a fine performance, keeping the audience enthralled throughout. Everyone loved it and now we are planning for our next evening with another snooker legend. Watch this space!”

Rachel Ollerenshaw established Molly Ollys with husband Tim in 2011, following the death of their eight-year-old daughter Molly from a rare kidney cancer.

The charity works to support children with terminal or life-limiting illnesses and their families and help with their emotional wellbeing. As well as providing more than 4,300 wishes to date, they donate therapeutic toys and books to both children directly and to hospitals throughout the UK.

Olly The Brave is a therapeutic toy that helps children understand their treatment journey. Along with a set of books from the charity’s exclusive Olly The Brave series, they have now been handed out to more than 70 hospitals or health centres to distribute to children undergoing treatment. Olly has his own Hickman line and a detachable mane which helps to explain and normalise the effects of chemotherapy.

Part of more than £5m raised to date, has also been used to fund the first consultant in paediatric palliative medicine at Birmingham Children’s Hospital and pay for the training of a further two consultants.

Rachel said: “Thank you once again to Hosoun and the team at Warwick Spice for inviting us to join them. It was great to listen to Dennis’ stories and to have the opportunity to spread the word about Molly Ollys. The money raised will help us to fund another 48 books that we can donate to children to help them understand their treatment journey. We really appreciate everyone’s support.”

The award-winning restaurant, in Smith Street Warwick, has been a firm favourite of diners for more than 25 years.

The carefully selected menu has been specially crafted to offer a wide variety of Indian and Bangladeshi cuisines, including Chef’s Specials. It has also accumulated a host of culinary awards over the years, including most recently, Top 10 Indian Restaurant in UK two years running, in 2017 & 2018.

When Elinor Perry raises a glass to her 20 years at the helm of Pentlands Accountants and Advisors at a special event in Leamington next week, it will give her cause for both celebration and reflection.

Fittingly, the anniversary coincides with her receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Ladies First Inspirational Awards at the IXL Centre in Southam earlier this month.

But Elinor’s journey began as a trainee at Marks and Spencer’s at the age of 16 after leaving school with a clutch of O-levels to her name. Only two years later a speculative job application resulted in a role as Tesco’s youngest ever Personnel Manager, heading up a 250-strong team.

New-found ambitions were tested however when, at the age of just 19, Elinor fell pregnant with her son, Joel and, eight years later, became a single mum of two following the birth of her daughter Lucy and subsequent marriage breakdown.

But it was during a period of entrepreneurship, running her own retail fashion business at 23, that opened her eyes to what finally became her successful career path.

She recalls: “I always describe the shop as a great learning curve, but a really bad idea! I did the bookkeeping and learned how to use the accounting software.

“At that time I had this very old-fashioned accountant who was sat in his pinstripe suit on the opposite side of the desk, with his fountain pen and he said to me: ‘Here’s your accounts. Sign here young lady’ and handed over a biro. And I thought, I don’t know what I’m signing, but I was suitably intimidated, so signed the accounts!

“So, when I moved from Gloucestershire to Warwickshire in 1997 as a single mum, I thought, I can’t go back into this retail world. It’s long hours and it just doesn’t work with two young children. That’s when my dad said: ‘You enjoyed the bookkeeping, why don’t you do something with that?’ “

She added: “I started the qualification at Warwickshire College and I wanted to get a part-time job in accountancy but recruiters basically laughed at me and said I had to be prepared to work full time, and at 30 I was too old! They wanted to take on people who were straight out of university, but I was not deterred.”

Her tenacity led Elinor to Edwards and Pentlands in Warwick, where she wasted no time – studying until the early hours around her parenting responsibilities to acquire her ACCA accreditation.

And it was while she was still completing her final exams that Elinor was made a surprise offer.

“In 2005, I did a management buyout from the existing owners of the business – aged 34 – only six months after I’d completed my final exams!” she said.

“So I borrowed some money, along with my business partner at the time but ended up buying her out in 2010. It was a bit hair-raising for the first 10 years. It’s fair to say it’s been an unusual journey with some highs and lows.”

A theme also familiar to her personal life – from the lows of a second failed marriage to dog trainer and Channel 5 personality Graeme Hall, to finding love again with her partner Ian and, more recently becoming a proud grandmother to Olivia and Noah.

Now the focus for Elinor and her 12-strong team is on celebrating success – and at a garden party at Mallory Court on June 25^th they’ll be joined by invited friends, associates and clients, some of whom have been with Pentlands for up to 30 years.

Elinor said: “A real achievement for me is building a business that is all about the people. We genuinely care and are very proud of the client relationships we’ve built over the years. And we’ve helped generations of families where their children are now running the business because the parents have retired. It just feels like a great opportunity to mark the 20 years and to say thank you.”

“I think what I’m most proud of though is always having that belief in myself that I can do it and trusting my gut, even in the testing times when things felt really tough. Everybody who’s in business knows that there are highs and lows, and showing vulnerability in those times where you need support is important!”

Of her recent award, she added: “This was a real ‘pinch me’ moment and completely unexpected. It makes 2025 an even more special year, and I was so pleased that friends, clients, and members of the Pentlands team were there to share in the moment with me.”

Pentlands Accountants and Advisors is a chartered certified firm dedicated to helping SMEs manage, grow, and maximise the value of their businesses.

With a friendly, proactive approach, the team doesn’t just “do the books” but offers strategic guidance on everything from tax planning, cloud-based bookkeeping, and payroll to business growth, exit strategies, and HMRC investigations.

Located just outside Warwick, the firm prides itself on working closely with clients to simplify the complex, support day-to-day operations, and provide tailored advice that delivers real impact to business owners.