Member Info
I studied at Bridgend College for 3 years gaining my NVQ level 2 in Catering and Hospitality, I then left to gain experience working in hotels and restaurants but never really settling down to a job as I wanted to gain as much experience as I possibly could, In 2001 I decided to learn more I needed a new challenge so I joined the Royal Navy this was completely different to anything I had every done before with the mass number I was cooking for, this was where I truly did learn to become a chef and I loved every minute of it the fast pace in which I had to get food to customers was an experience I will never forgot the same as all the different aspects of catering I learnt from working in the wardroom which was a more fine dining experience to working in the bakery making fresh cakes and bread to use every day to working in the main galley feeding up to 1000 people 3 times daily.
During my time in the Royal Navy I served on board HMS Ark Royal during Op Telic (Gulf War 2003) this was something different from anything I had ever done in the past on board numbers had gone up from 1000 people 3 times daily to 2000 we were working 8 hours on 8 hours off defence watches but still had to provide all the catering requirements for all members of the ships company, This really was hard work but again I loved all the pressure of cooking for the ships company and always did it with a smile on my face.
Since leaving the Navy in 2006, I have found myself still wanting to learn different aspect of catering from working in a fast food takeaway to fine dining, In which time I worked my way up from a chef working in a pub to a head chef working in a private nursing home to a chef manager working for the large contract catering company in Wales
