Skill Builders - Events
2008 has been a busy year with Afterschool Clubs in Ludlow and Tenbury Wells, a visit to London for the young chef winners from the past six years and of course the Education Day activites for the Food Festival and the Young Chef Contest2008. Our most unusual activity has been our founder lending his skills on a trip to the very rural - almost medieval - transylvanian region of Rumania
The Year started with us taking a group of past young chef winners to London, we had been very lucky to have been granted private visits to the home of the Prince of Wales, Clarence House and The Queen, Buckingham Palace.
We were given guided tours of the regions that the public never see - the kitchens, still room, china stores, silver and gilt room together with talks and demonstrations on how they care for the very old dinner services and silverware, how they prepare for a state banquet, how they cater for the some 350 members of staff and all aspects of the running of the catering operations of both these very different homes.
We were also treated to lunch in Buckingham Palace - same as the staff would get - a big treat for us. We finished off with a private tour of the state rooms and what sort of events would be held in them as well as a history of the palace and of its wonderful furniture and paintings.
The next day we visited Claude and Claire Bosi's new Mayfair Hibiscus with a chat from Claude about how he and Claire set it up and a tour of the kitchens and prep rooms, a beautiful setting indeed.
After this we went on to meet our MP, Philip Dunne, for a chat and who had arranged for us to have a tour of the kitchens which service both the Houses of Parliament and Houses of Commons
The group outside buckingham Palace - we're not allowed to take photos inside sadly.
We're not allowed to take photos inside the Houses of Parliament either so it's us outside again.
After this we started on the afterschool clubs, this year for the first time running in two towns, Ludlow and Tenbury Wells. We give them 10 sessions on topics such as butchery, bakery, spices, desserts and lots more. More about these will appear on the projects page in the towns own sections.
Next our founder, Graeme Perks, went with a group of traditional craftsmen and students to Rumania for two weeks to help repair some of their timber framed buildings and pass on some skills so that they may carry on the good work, you can find more about this by clicking on the Sectors tab and the click on traditional building skills.
Coming soon the education day and young chefs contest 2008.
The Entrants and Judges of the 2007 Young Chef Contest.
One of our most popular events, the Young Chefs Contest, which is once again generously supported by Bart Spices and held at the Ludlow Food and Drink Festival is looking for entrants, if you are aged 16 - 25, working as or training to be a chef and within 40 miles of Ludlow complete this form and return it to us, you'll find all the details on the form. Click here for PDF form..
Historically in the rural areas, relative isolation has resulted in us maintaining many of the working traditions from the past such as baking, metal work, sewing and cooking. While these are taught in school, we very often only show this off to the converted - parents and grandparents. Skillbuilders believes that by placing many schools together at the same time, more best practice can be shared.
This prepares the pupils for possible college and vocational experiences all showcased together.