Sat Nov 27th 2010
- 00.00, Sun Mar 27th 2011
A report on the local Billericay Heat of the Young Chef of the Year competition.
Young Chef of the Year
The day dawns. Wednesday 17 November 2010. The day the local heat of The Young Chef of the Year competition is to be held in the Mayflower school, Billericay. Ten students from three schools, Billericay School, St Johns School and the Mayflower School, have to prepare and cook a three-course meal in two hours to exacting standards, the results to be judged by three people who have an interest in the culinary arts. 
Before leaving for the school, a brief check to make sure I have everything. Judges, marking sheets, certificates, book of rules. Yes everything in order. On arrival check in at reception, been in trouble before for ignoring this rule, then round to the kitchen to meet the teacher who has the responsibility for organising the facilities in the school. Everything in order? Haven’t a room for the judges to taste the food, discuss its quality and determine the winner. Panic! No, not quite. Eventually a room is found and the competition begins. All in order. No. One of the judges has not arrived. Many attempts to contact him fail so the competition continues with two judges. Who says we need three?
No more incidents. The competition moves smoothly to its conclusion and the judges decide on the winner and runners up and present the certificates. All in all a pretty successful competition. However it takes a lot of hard work to organise an event such as this and thanks are due to the Mayflower School for the use of its facilities; to the teachers for their involvement, to the students who suffer the stress and strain of the competition and finally to the judges for giving their time and expertise to decide the winners.
Whilst the competition at a local level is now complete, the winner goes to Chelmsford on Saturday 26 February 2011 for the District final, the celebrations will continue with a public presentation on Wednesday 1 December at 7.00pm for 7.30pm in the Reading Rooms, High Street, Billericay. Candidates, parents, teachers and Rotarians are cordially invited to attend this event. I look forward to seeing you there your support will be much appreciated.
Competition results:
1 Sam Dowsett St Johns School
2 Max Warren-Watson St Johns School
3 Nicole Dines Mayflower School
