12th April 2013
Spring 2011: Welcome
As we fast approach our AGM and my first year as your chairman, it gives us time to reflect on the previous year. We as ever have done so much, a lot of this I hope you have been involved with, read about or attended. But there is so much we still want to achieve.
At the AGM we are always looking for new ideas and for new blood to join us on the committee, so if you believe you can help add that little extra, please feel free to make yourself known. The Vice Presidents’ Council met early in February to go through all the nominations that had been put forward for the annual Honours and Awards and these will be presented at the AGM on Sunday, April 10. If you are looking at booking please do so via Suzanne at the Craft Guild office. This will be an excellent lunch and awards, and this year it is being hosted at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, London.
After the great success of the Brick Fund dinner last summer, which amazingly raised more than £7,000, we are looking at another fundraiser in June again at Westminster Kingsway College. Please look out for details on this and many of our other events on our website.
Currently we are looking at taking membership payments by direct debit, this being a faster, easier and more cost effective way. When your renewals arrive please can you take time out to update your personal details; this ensures that we can keep you updated with what’s going on and that we send Stockpot to the correct address. There is also a link on our home page to update at any time throughout the year.
With the fast growing social media networking opportunities that are around us, the Craft Guild is already on Twitter and we are also looking at Facebook. This is all in the early stages but we are aware that this is an area that is fast growing and one that our membership has been asking about, so please watch this space.
We are not too far away from our annual awards, this year being held at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel. I do hope you have nominated someone for these awards; they really are sought after and well respected in the industry. The only reason someone that you know has not received one is purely because you have not nominated them! This year sees the introduction of a new category – the People’s Choice. Please take time to vote online for this category; it’s the chance for you to nominate someone who deserves to win the award.
At the same time we are receiving nominations for the Graduate Awards, which is now in its eighth year. The deadline is April 16, so again if have an aspiring member in your team or you are an aspiring chef, get nominating.
The National Chef of the Year for 2011 is also well underway, with a few tweaks here and there from last year’s excellent revised event, which for the first time is now yearly. Although the name implied this, it had been a biennial competition since 1972.
By now you all will be aware Simon Hulstone did a truly excellent job in representing the UK at Bocuse d’Or – not getting on the podium that we all hoped he would, but nonetheless putting a command performance.
Only a couple of weeks ago we were involved in Wessex Salon Culinaire and IFE. At the latter we again showcased The Skillery demonstration kitchen. This as always attracted many visitors proving once again how much people value it at events and it produced another fine turnout of visitors.
Fergus Martin and the Culinary Academy team seem to be everywhere all at the same time – I really don’t know how he does it! Please read what the academy is doing, about its workshops, masterclasses and how you yourself can be involved.
All it remains is for me to wish you all a great start to the summer months, and bring on the warm weather!
Andrew Green
National Chairman
Craft Guild of Chefs
After the great success of the Brick Fund dinner last summer, which amazingly raised more than £7,000, we are looking at another fundraiser in June again at Westminster Kingsway College. Please look out for details on this and many of our other events on our website.
Currently we are looking at taking membership payments by direct debit, this being a faster, easier and more cost effective way. When your renewals arrive please can you take time out to update your personal details; this ensures that we can keep you updated with what’s going on and that we send Stockpot to the correct address. There is also a link on our home page to update at any time throughout the year.
With the fast growing social media networking opportunities that are around us, the Craft Guild is already on Twitter and we are also looking at Facebook. This is all in the early stages but we are aware that this is an area that is fast growing and one that our membership has been asking about, so please watch this space.
We are not too far away from our annual awards, this year being held at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel. I do hope you have nominated someone for these awards; they really are sought after and well respected in the industry. The only reason someone that you know has not received one is purely because you have not nominated them! This year sees the introduction of a new category – the People’s Choice. Please take time to vote online for this category; it’s the chance for you to nominate someone who deserves to win the award.
At the same time we are receiving nominations for the Graduate Awards, which is now in its eighth year. The deadline is April 16, so again if have an aspiring member in your team or you are an aspiring chef, get nominating.
The National Chef of the Year for 2011 is also well underway, with a few tweaks here and there from last year’s excellent revised event, which for the first time is now yearly. Although the name implied this, it had been a biennial competition since 1972.
By now you all will be aware Simon Hulstone did a truly excellent job in representing the UK at Bocuse d’Or – not getting on the podium that we all hoped he would, but nonetheless putting a command performance.
Only a couple of weeks ago we were involved in Wessex Salon Culinaire and IFE. At the latter we again showcased The Skillery demonstration kitchen. This as always attracted many visitors proving once again how much people value it at events and it produced another fine turnout of visitors.
Fergus Martin and the Culinary Academy team seem to be everywhere all at the same time – I really don’t know how he does it! Please read what the academy is doing, about its workshops, masterclasses and how you yourself can be involved.
All it remains is for me to wish you all a great start to the summer months, and bring on the warm weather!
Andrew Green
National Chairman
Craft Guild of Chefs