The Team
Lotte Duncan - Director and Event Organiser
Lotte is a Director and event organiser alongside Jon Hackett.
She passionately believes in the strong ethos of the Festival – to celebrate British produce and support artisan producers.
Lotte has worked in the food industry for forty years and is an experienced, chef, broadcaster and food writer.
Over the last 5 years since Thame Food Festival moved to the Show Ground, the event has built and developed to become a well established food event in the Food Festival diary.
Making it a fun day out for friends and family has always been at the core, alongside a celebration of delicious food that is both local and national. Introducing exciting features every year and keeping the festival fresh is very important to Lotte as well as the support that the festival offers to its stall holders. Lotte introduced the Thame Food Festival Bursary 4 years ago and its two winners have gone on to enjoy great success and the continued support of the Festival.
Apart from Thame Food Festival – Lotte and Jon run Bradford on Avon Food and Drink Festival in Wiltshire. www.scrumptiousfoodfestivals.co.uk
Jon Hackett - Director and Event Organiser
With over 15 years working in advertising at Ogilvy, where he headed up the TV Facilities and Production Department, Jon turned freelance cameraman specialising in shooting food and now Produces the Festival Film.
He now runs the Festival with Lotte Duncan covering all aspects, particularly the infrastructure.
Happily, he’s also part of the team sampling all the new products from potential stall holders and sits on the new Artisan Food Producer Bursary committee.
His love of food and cooking drives his everyday life, with a good understanding of what makes a product taste delicious. He is also a judge for the Great Taste Awards – run by the Guild of Fine Food.
Apart from Thame Food Festival – Lotte and Jon run Bradford on Avon Food and Drink Festival in Wiltshire. www.scrumptiousfoodfestivals.co.uk
Jo Horne - Director
Jo joined as a Director of the Thame Food Festival in 2015. She brings many connections to the group through an extensive network of contacts; helping to pull together certain elements that make the Thame Food Festival so unique.
Jo is brilliant at stall set up logistics and will be on site once again this year.
She also heads up the Foodie Force – our wonderful team of local volunteers who are instrumental in making the festival work.
As a local business owner, she sees supporting the Festival and the other Directors as an absolute pleasure as it promotes Thame regionally and beyond.
Julian Foster - Director
Julian is a graphic designer who runs a communications company called Red Letter, from Thame town centre. He has extensive experience in advertising, design and more recently, publishing.
Red Letter publishes Thame Out, a local lifestyle magazine, and Cuizine, a food and drink magazine for Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
Julian was delighted to be invited to become a Director of the Thame Food Festival and have the pleasure of meeting so many talented artisan food and drink producers.
Julian will be designing and writing our visitor programme and other communications leading up to the event in September.
