[St James’s Palace, Wednesday 21st April] HRH The Prince of Wales last night hosted a special dinner for The British Asian Trust, the newest of the 20 organisations which form The Prince’s Charities. His Royal Highness used the occasion to thank celebrity ambassadors, patrons, corporate partners, friends and supporters of The Trust, which builds bridges between the diaspora community and high-impact charitable organisations in South Asia and the UK.

Amongst the guests were a host of well known British Asian celebrities, sports personalities and the who’s who of Asian businessmen and women, including Eastenders’ stars Nina Wadia, Nitin Ganatra and Preeya Kalidas, Strictly Come Dancing and soon to be ‘Spook’ star Laila Rouass, former Apprentice Saira Khan, comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar, film-maker Gurinder Chadha,  cricketer Mark Ramprakash and entrepreneur and star of Dragon’s Den, James Caan.

Acclaimed Michelin star chef Atul Kochhar, proprietor of five world-class restaurants including Benares and executive chef at Colony in London, provided guests with a sample of the unique dining experience that has made him a household name.

In its first year of operation The British Asian Trust has built up a network of high profile British Asian supporters, organised the very successful ‘The British Asian Challenge’ match at Lord’s and reached out to over 300,000 beneficiaries across South Asia, supporting the work of nine high impact charities working in the areas of education, health and enterprise.

Sanjeev Bhaskar  commented on his role with the Trust: “As a product of the unique relationship between Britain and the Indian subcontinent, I am honoured and proud to be an ambassador of The British Asian Trust where successful British Asians bring their skills, creativity and resources together to improve  conditions for those who are the most helpless and in need.”

Manoj Badale, Chairman on the British Asian Trust, added:  “As Chairman of the Trust, I am pleased to report that the Trust is on its way to creating a unique platform that will link the Asian diaspora to grass-root charities in South Asia and the UK and would like to thank all of our Ambassadors, Trustees, supporters and staff for this success.”