The Mayor of Weston-super-Mare’s twin city in Germany has visited Weston College to see how it has grown in recent years.

Mayor of Hildesheim, Dr Ingo Meyer, and his Civic Officer, Oliver Roesner, visited the College on Wednesday 18th May.

The two German visitors were joined by Weston Town Mayor Raymond Armstrong, Mayoress Joan Dunne, and North Somerset Councillor and College Governor Ian Porter.

The German city of Hildesheim has been twinned with Weston-super-Mare since 1983 and the duo were eager to learn more about the College.

They visited Knightstone Campus to meet with Senior Assistant Principal Linda Burlison and Executive Director for Apprenticeships and Commercial Strategy Liz Redwood.

The German Mayor discovered how the College has grown throughout the past 15 years, about the course offerings, its provision for students with learning difficulties and disabilities, and the ongoing building developments.

The group then visited the College’s South West Skills Campus, in Locking Road, to have a tour of engineering facilities from the College’s Executive Director for Professional and Technical Curriculum, Andy Davidson.

Dr Meyer said: “It was a very interesting visit. What I particularly liked is that Weston College has a focus on the needs of businesses it works with and I think this is very, very important, and what I would like to have more of in Hildesheim, it’s the area of focus for me. We need to create good workers for the future.”

Catering students at Weston College got the opportunity to cook with locally-produced cooking technology last week as part of the Chefs’ Forum Academy.

The students got the chance to use Clifton Food Range’s renowned water bath cooking products (as seen on Masterchef and the Great British Menu), which are made in Weston-super-Mare.

Christopher Wicks, Head Chef at Old Down Manor, was on hand to kick-off the water bath cookery unit of the students’ course, demonstrating how this method of cooking can seal in flavour and gives chefs control over the texture of the food.

This type of cookery is called sous vide and involves vacuum sealing the ingredients before cooking at a low temperature in the special water-based cooking machines. It is a technique which is rapidly gaining popularity in many top restaurants.

Catherine Farinha, Founder of the Chefs’ Forum, said: “Having an industry expert like Chris Wicks teach Weston College’s catering students will inspire the young chefs and show them the versatility of sous vide cookery. 

“They will learn about portion control, quality consistency and all the other advantages of low temperature cookery that make it Wicks’ cooking method of choice.”

The Chefs’ Forum Academy was launched at Weston College in September 2016, and brings together local chefs, food producers and innovative product designers. It enables industry professionals to pass on their knowledge of the catering industry to trainee chefs in a collaboration which aims to promote Weston College as a centre of excellence for catering and hospitality in the South West of England.

Weston College has welcomed students from a number of local secondary schools on an enrichment project to give them a taste of the hospitality industry.

Students from Priory, Worle, Broadoak, and Hans Price schools came to the College over the last four weeks to learn about cooking on a Catering Enrichment Project set up by the College’s school partnerships team.

The project came to a close with a large celebration, where the students cooked a full three-course meal for their family and teachers in Weston College’s Grove Training Restaurant. Over the duration of the project, they were guided and taught by Weston College staff who have helped them find out what it’s really like to work in the industry.

The students cooked a delicious meal consisting of soup to start, followed by chicken chasseur, and then chocolate brownie for dessert. They all worked together as a team to produce the meal, as they would in a real-life restaurant.

Sandra Bull, Area Manager of Hair, Beauty, Hospitality and Catering at Weston College, said: “We are always excited to welcome budding young chefs into the College! As our facilities are all commercial standard, it’s an excellent opportunity for them to get a real feel for what working in the industry is actually like.

“The hospitality and catering industry is growing so quickly that it’s important to show young people how enjoyable and fulfilling a career in the industry can be. We offer plenty of courses to help them on their way, too!”

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