ALFIE IS THE FLEETWOOD YOUNG CHEF OF THE YEAR
The title of 'Fleetwood Young Chef of the Year' has been awarded to Alfie Hall, a Year 6 student from Shakespeare School. The competition was organised by Healthier Fleetwood as part of our programme to encourage residents to think about nutrition and the importance of diet to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Nearly 400 children took part in the competition in the last Summer term through the Town’s seven primary schools - the challenge was to design a three-course meal for their hero on a £10 budget. Alfie’s hero was his dad and the menu choices were his favourite dishes and flavours.
Each school sent forward a student to the final at Twelve Restaurant in Thornton where they worked with the professional chefs to produce their meals. The results were amazing!
A judging panel included Lancashire-born Chef Harry Lomas MBE who has catered at many high-profile events including for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. He said, “The standard was incredible. It was great working alongside and seeing what the youngsters produced, in fact several of the dishes were so good I would put them on one of my menus tomorrow.”
The awards were presented at a special celebration lunch at Fleetwood Town FC attended by family, friends and teaching staff. The other finalists were Ryan Birkett (Charles Saer Community Primary), Charlotte Redman (Flakefleet), Lily-Jayne Ives (Larkholme Primary), George Hill (Shakespeare Primary), Eli Diamante (St Mary’s Catholic Primary) and Ray Sampson (Chaucer Community Primary).
Healthier Fleetwood is now planning to hold the competition on an annual basis. Mount View surgery GP Mark Spencer was part of the team behind the idea and he said, “The Fleetwood Young Chef of the Year has essentially been about improving nutritional knowledge and cookery skills for all Year 5 children in the town. Cookery is a life skill and, coupled with healthier eating choices, will bring life long health benefits for our children. Much more than that though it’s been about raising children’s aspirations, opening their minds to new experiences and to new possibilities. The children have been amazing and have produced some outstanding dishes, way beyond what anyone would expect from 10 year olds. It’s certainly been one of the most rewarding experiences of my medical career and I’m already looking forward to next year!”
Further information see the Fleetwood Young Chef of the Year pages on our website.
Healthier Fleetwood would like to thank all the children who took part in the Young Chef challenge, the families for their support and the schools for delivering the programme in class.
We would also like to thank our partners and sponsors without whom the competition would not have been possible or so successful:
Katharine, Ellen and Marie from the Food Teacher UK team for designing the programme and co-ordinating the resources.
Chef Harry and his chefs from The Grove Hotel, Hertfordshire
Caroline, Paul and everyone at Twelve Restaurant, Thornton
Melanie, Adam, Matt and the staff at Fleetwood Town & FTFC Community Trust
Kim and Gary from My Fish Company
Myles and Giles from The Mindful Chef
The Savoy Educational Trust