Posted on October 21, 2014
It has been a busy week at the School of Artisan food, especially after celebrating our fifth birthday at the weekend, but the fast pace isn’t about to slow down now.
It’s graduation day! All hands were on the deck this crisp, yet slightly foggy morning but all the finishing touches are done and the icing is on the cake. Just in time for the first students and their proud families to walk through our door.
There is such a buzz around the school today, the satisfaction of sharing such a memorable day with people we have seen grow and bloom over the past year, is so fulfilling if not a little sad at the same time.
However as the clatter of feet grew louder upstairs and the fight for mirrors got evermore heated, we knew it was nearly time to leave our desks and go and enjoy the ceremony.
The ceremony was a big hit with all our students and their families. The speeches were impressive, funny and inspirational. Joe Piliero, Director at the School gave his thanks to all the tutors who have passed on their valuable knowledge and experience; Shelia Russell, Head of Studies praised the graduates for their determination and diligence; Wayne Caddy, Head of Baking, spoke of the high standard of baking achieved throughout the year (and only mentioned baguettes about six times); Yvonne O’Donovan, Head of Business and Enterprise complimented the quality of the business plans each student submitted; and Alison Swan Parente, Chair of Trustees thanked our many sponsors and supporters for their financial assistance.
The School also welcomed Chris Young from the Real Bread Campaign, as our presenter and guest speaker. He was extremely amusing, witty and motivating and had us all listening attentively even to his small sales pitch at the end to try and encourage our graduates to join the campaign. Our favourite quote was ‘the people of Britain need to be reminded that bread isn’t just to keep your fingers dry when you are eating a sandwich’.
Definitely a big round of applause due for all the speeches and graduates.
It was very enjoyable to see all the parents bursting with pride and scrabbling for their cameras as our graduates collected their certificates. Then it was time for a final last look in the mirror, straighten their caps and then head down for photos.
After all the photos and fun of cap throwing, how better to carry on the celebrations than by going to the Titchfield Library to indulge in a delicious, fresh and hearty banquet put on by our very talented catering team, big thanks there. It was utterly delicious and what a delight it was to be able to enjoy such scrummy food with what you could only describe as a historical view, you felt like royalty looking over the delightful Welbeck Abbey.
