News

LACA’s Welsh Region held its 2013 awards night recently at Vale Resort Hotel where a glittering ‘Hollywood’ style evening helped the 11 category winners and runners-up celebrate in Oscars fashion.

Master of Ceremonies on the night was Stuart Long of MKN and afterwards LACA's National Chair Anne Bull and Welsh Regional Chair Toni Edwards tweeted to say “thanks all who made the Wales Excellence Awards a huge success. Congrats to all the winners!”

The results were:

WELSH CATERING MANAGEMENT TEAM OF THE YEAR 2013 Sponsored by A B M

Nominees:    
Wrexham CBC
Caerphilly CBC
Torfaen CBC

Joint Winners:    
Wrexham CBC/Caerphilly CBC

Winner Citations:
Wrexham:  A superb presentation showing the flexibility of the team to take on a major challenge with the need to re-focus the total approach to school dining service with many new restrictions in place.
Caerphilly:  An excellent presentation showing a very highly skilled professional team who are committed to all sectors of their market place.  The sustained continual growth of dining numbers shows totally the pride of this team.

WELSH PRIMARY SCHOOL CATERING TEAM OF THE YEAR 2013 Sponsored by Dr Oetker

Nominees:
Aberporth Primary School, Ceredigion CC
Riverbank School, Cardiff Council

Winner:    
Riverbank School, Cardiff Council

Winner Citation: An excellent submission that contains some truly genius and innovative ideas that has raised uptake and service awareness to impressive levels.  The team’s dedication and professionalism is to be applauded.

WELSH PRIMARY SCHOOL CATERING FRONTLINE EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR 2013 Sponsored by Pasta King

Nominees:      
Nicola Bowen-Smith, Riverbank School, Cardiff Council
Wendy Bradbury, Penygarn Community Primary School, Torfaen CBC
Cathy Jones, Penllwyn CP School, Ceredigion CC

Winner :     
Wendy Bradbury - Penygarn Community Primary – Torfaen

Winner Citation:  The winner designed a menu, organised a fruit and veg Co-op, ran tasting and training days for the pupils and fines time to organise school discos and savers clubs. A dedicated and valued employee the authority should be proud of.

WELSH SECONDARY SCHOOL CATERING TEAM OF THE YEAR 2013 Sponsored by Castell Howell Foods

Nominees:    
Cowbridge Comprehensive School, Vale of Glamorgan Catering Services
Rhymney Comprehensive School, Caerphilly CBC Catering Services
Hawthorn High Secondary School, Rhondda Cynon Taf Catering Services

Winner:     
Hawthorn High Secondary School- Rhondda Cynon Taf Catering Services

Winner Citation:  An impressive submission, displaying a creative and innovative idea, to promote and raise the profile of educational catering within the local community. Very reflective to the needs of the customer whilst recognising the importance of healthy eating evidenced by the results achieved. An excellent example that should be introduced within other schools.

WELSH SECONDARY SCHOOL CATERING FRONTLINE EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR 2013 Sponsored by McCain

Nominees:    
Amy Keown, St Davids High School, Flintshire CC
Diane Jones, Rhymney Comprehensive, Caerphilly CBC

Winner:    
Amy Keown - St Davids High School - Flintshire County Council

Winner Citation:  In addition to her key duties as Site Supervisor, the winner was also selected to the role of Recipe Development Coordinator, involving the development of break time snacks, producing nutritional analysis reports & the delivery of training to all cooks for the compliance of recipes. As a trainer she has also been a valuable mentor for a number of work experience pupils with behavioural issues.  All of this work has been carried out in addition to her normal duties. As a trainer, Amy has also been a valuable mentor for a number of work experience pupils with behavioural issues.

WELSH REGIONAL TRAINING AWARD 2013 Sponsored by Birds Eye

Nominees:    
Rhondda Cynon Taf CBC
Eden Foodservoice

Winner:    
Eden Foodservice

Winner Citation:  Fantastic entry with key learning initiative for all the school cooks and assistants providing great transferable skills that allow the Isle of Anglesey team to provide the best service in their schools resulting in strong meal up take growth and high job satisfaction

WELSH REGIONAL MARKETING AWARD 2013 Sponsored by AVL Consultancy

Nominees:    
Caerphilly CBC
Cardiff Council
Eden Foodservice

Winner:    
Cardiff Council  

Winner Citation: This year the shortlist had three excellent entries, most likely the best ever received.  Through its initiative Cardiff achieved a 10% increase in meal numbers, had conducted good PR, had established very good working with external partners and had undertaken excellent use of digital media.

WELSH OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT (FRONTLINE) AWARD 2013 Sponsored by Premier Foods

Nominees:    
Alison Peel, Ysgol Hen Felin – Rhondda Cynon Taf CBC
Nicola Bowen-Smith, Riverbank School, Cardiff Council
Ceri Terry, Bridgend CBC

Winner:    
Ceri Terry, Bridgend CBC

Winner Citation:  An excellent submission showing all that is great about schools meals, the leadership quality and dedication of all. With a clear goal this was achieved to a very high standard

WELSH OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT (MANAGEMENT) AWARD 2013 Sponsored by C K M

Nominees:
Elonwy James, Ceredigion CC
Louise Kerton, Bridgend CBC

Winner:     
Louise Kerton, Bridgend CBC

Winner Citation:  The winner has obviously had to tackle the taunting task of becoming a new ‘team manager’, with a new team, a new vision, a range of difficult objectives set within times of harsh economic uncertainty. She has obviously met this challenge head-on and battled successfully whilst investing in staff and facilities.

WELSH REGION OUTSTANDING SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR AWARD 2013 Sponsored by LACA Wales

Nominees:    
E & R Moffat
Holdsworth

Winner:    
E & R Moffat

Winner Citation:  It was clear that this submission demonstrates clear and dedicated commitment to school catering. The supporting evidence was highly complementary in all areas of service delivery. This family run firm understands its market and goes that extra mile to ensure complete customer satisfaction.

LACA WELSH CHAIRMAN’S AWARD 2013 Sponsored by Green Gourmet

Winnner:    
Paul Williams, Secretary, LACA Welsh Region Committee

Winner Citation:  For Paul’s outstanding work and commitment to his role as Secretary for the LACA Welsh Region Committee over four years.