Four Hospitality & Catering students from Westminster Kingsway College's Victoria Centre recently attended the Hospitality show at the NEC in Birmingham. One competition that caused a stir at the show was the Craft Guild of Chefs' first ever Junior Chef Challenge. After 30 minutes of deliberation, an impressive three gold medals were awarded by the judges. The hour long cook off saw WKC second year Professional Chef Diploma students Keisha Williams and Sophie Wright scoop the top award along with fellow third year Professional Chef Diploma students Sam Fisk and Chris Terry. 19 year olds Chris and Sam entered the competition not expecting to win but wanting to learn from the experience. Now Terry can't wait to "slog it out in the kitchen" when he finishes college.

The contest featured seven teams of two chefs, all under 23 years of age, prepare two portions of a main course using pork and two covers of a dessert of their choice, all within an hour. Craft Guild chairman Steve Munkley, one of four judges, said, "The students were extremely switched on, dedicated and focused". Advanced Practioner in Culinary Arts at WKC, Simon Stocker, who mentored Sam and Chris (Sophie and Keisha were mentored by Miranda Godfrey), said, "Both teams did extremely well in what was their first live competition, especially considering the girls team was only formed within a week of the event. At such a young age they proved themselves against other well-seasoned juniors from the industry. Yet again Westminster Kingsway College has proved their mettle in teaching and mentoring for competitions outside of London. This kind of project is very enriching for students and their mentors".

WKC offers a wide range of Hospitality & Catering courses at the Victoria Centre. For more information, call the Course Information Team on 0870 060 9800

Back