Paul wins group’s annual Chef of the Year competition

AN AYLESBURY care home chef has won the Anchor’s Chef of the Year Award.

Paul Thomas, a chef at Anchor’s Buckingham Lodge, went up against chefs from all 120 care homes run by England’s largest not-for-profit care home provider.

Entrants in Anchor’s prestigious Chef of the Year Award submitted a three-course recipe (starter, main and dessert). The best entrant from each region was picked by regional managers.

These regional nominees then had their submissions voted for by Anchor colleagues across the country to pick the most appetising menus.

Chefs were encouraged to use locally sourced ingredients and many even used herbs, fruits and vegetables grown at their own homes. Points were also awarded for menus that reduced food waste, using all parts of their ingredients.

The four finalists then came together to cook their recipes in a cooking competition at Leeds Community College.

With all four finalists preparing their menus in a set time then having the results sampled by judges including the operator’s managing director of care services Rob Martin, catering manager Noel Finnegan, Steve McFall, managing director of Efoods, one of Anchor’s suppliers and sponsors alongside Bidfood, and last year’s winner Sam Mellish.

In the end, though, there could only be one winner. Paul was crowned at the official ceremony later that day.

He said: “I still can’t quite believe it. To make the final four was incredible but I never thought I’d win, I’m really proud to have won. I wanted to make a menu that was healthy but also tasty – and made good use of local and sustainable ingredients.”

For his menu he served up butternut squash panna cotta with whipped goat’s cheese and chives, dressed lamb’s lettuce with basil oil to start,

An expert in fraud prevention gave a talk to residents and staff at a Chichester care home about how best to protect themselves from scams. Richard Moorey shared firsthand insight on the most common financial scams targeting older people including impersonation tactics, courier and computer fraud and bogus prize notifications. Richard, whose experience includes being a police community support officer based at Chichester Police Station and serving as a community warden for West Sussex District Council, presented his advice at Colten Care’s Wellington Grange. He told the audience of his shock at the increase in scams being reported to police in recent years and how there was a corresponding growth in demand from the public for advice on protection.