Vic Laws MBE of AVL Consulting has won the EDUcatering Lifetime Achievement Award during a gala dinner ceremony last night (10th October) at the Royal Garden Hotel in London.
Laws, who has spent decades working in the educating sector advising catering professionals on how to improve their catering service, was a popular winner among the 400 guests. He thanked the crowd for giving him years of enjoyment within the sector.
The EDUcatering Excellence Awards celebrate the achievements of the whole school catering industry over the last year. Among the winners was Orla Delargy who won the Special Award for her help in saving Universal Infant Free School Meals from being axed through her communications with journalists and the media, gathering data from all avenues of the industry to build a case for the programme’s retention.
The awards were hosted by Katherine Breckon, one-time winner of LACA School Chef of the Year and a 2016 EDUcatering Excellence Award winner.
“This year’s EDUcatering Excellence Awards were a huge hit,” said Morag Wilson, editor of EDUcatering magazine. “The best thing about the awards is that we are all in it together and it’s the time in the year that we gather like a family to recognise the hard work and achievements of everyone, particularly our award winners. Many congratulations to Vic and Orla on their well deserved awards, and to all of our 2017 winners.”
The winners are:
Lifetime Achievement Award
Vic Laws MBE
Special Award
Orla Delargy
Contract Caterer of the Year
Brookwood Partnership
Nominees:
ISS Facility Services Education
Local Food Links
Independent School Caterer of the Year
Queen Ethelburga’s Collegiate
Nominees:
Simon Illingworth, Holroyd Howe
Nicolas Godfrey, Rossendale School
Innovation Award
The Training and Development Kitchen, Autograph-Education
Nominees:
Going the Extra Mile, CATERed Limited
Improving the Health of Children Across West Sussex, Chartwells & West Sussex County Council
Local Authority of the Year
HCL (Hertfordshire Catering Limitied)
Nominees:
Barking and Dagenham Catering Services
Commercial Services – Surrey County Council
Marketing Award
LACA National School Meals Week
Nominees:
Derbyshire County Council
CATERed Limited
Newcomer of the Year
Rachel Willocks, ABsolutely Catering
Nominees:
Judith Caustin, Cranbrook Primary School
Stuart O’Brien, Chartwells
Primary School Caterer of the Year
Flavio Hernandez, Charlton Manor Primary School
Nominees:
Karen Talbot, Hartburn Primary School
Pauline Jones, Dorothy Barley Primary School
School Food Plan Award
The Catering Team, Queen Ethelburga’s Collegiate
Nominees:
Richard Gambier, Marlborough School
Brad Pearce, CATERed Limted
Secondary School Caterer of the Year
Paul Yung, Woolwich Polytechnic School for Boys
Nominees:
Julia King, Lord Williams’s School
Steven Cross, Park Community School
Self-Managed School Caterer of the Year
Steve Fowell, Mendip Green Primary School
Nominees:
Rob Bullock, St Wilfrid’s RC College
Jessica Oughton, Marlborough School
Specialist of the Year Award
Shirley Anderson, Barking and Dagenham Catering Services
Nominees:
Amy Roberts, Holroyd Howe
Mark Capper, Commercial Services – Surrey County Council
Supplier Innovation Award
Diversey
Nominees:
Kraft Heiz
MOM Group
Strathmore Foods
