Four great reasons for celebration at the Nantwich Show
Our college stand was judged the best professional trade stand, thanks to our diverse ‘hands on’ activities, friendly staff and our efforts to engage with and educate the public.
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Triple gold for Reaseheath at Nantwich International Cheese Show
Reaseheath College trained dairy technologists struck gold three times at the record breaking Nantwich International Cheese Show.
Reaseheath Principal Meredydd David presents the Student Cheesemaker award to Sarah Hinchliffe and Sam Clarke
The students, who are studying on the Nantwich college’s unique Eden programme, took gold awards in the Specialist Cheesemakers section in classes for cheddar and crumbly territorial cheeses and also won the highly competitive Student Cheesemaker class.
They also took a further silver and two highly commended awards in the Student Cheesemaker class and a highly commended in the open cheddar cheese class.
The Eden programme is a unique, ground breaking, education initiative driven and supported by leading dairy companies who recognise the importance of investing in talented employees.
The technicians attend Reaseheath on a block release basis to study for an internationally recognised Foundation Degree in Dairy Technology which includes practical training in the college’s industry standard dairy processing halls. They spend the rest of their time extending their experience in the workplace.
Matt Salt assists Peter Sidwell on the Cathedral City stand
Now in its seventh year and delivered exclusively by Reaseheath, the three year course covers relevant topics ranging from dairy chemistry and microbiology to cheesemaking.
The cheese show this year attracted record entries and the students’ entries were up against world class competition. The Student Cheesemaker class was newly sponsored by Reaseheath College.
Said course manager Debbie Heritage-Brill: “We were delighted at the success of our students, particularly against such strong competition from within the industry.”
Apart from competing, the Eden students demonstrated the process of cheesemaking at the show, giving families the chance to see how the nation’s favourite food is produced.
Celebrity chef James Martin with commis chefs Elysha Emberson and Kieran McLean
Three students who have just completed their Level 3 Diploma in Bakery and Patisserie supported celebrity chefs James Martin, Will Holland, Jonathan Harrison, Sean Wilson and Peter Sidwell as they demonstrated how to cook tasty dishes in the international cheese marquee.
Elysha Emberson, Kieran McLean and Matt Salt worked as commis chefs, preparing ingredients and cooking equipment for the chefs as they cooked in front of an appreciative audience.
Elysha said: “It was very interesting working with the chefs and being part of the action. It was a really good experience and a great thing to put on your CV.”
A great day at the Nantwich Show
What a great Nantwich Show it proved to be this year! It was great to meet up with so many industry partners and current and ex students at our local show. Our stand which was awarded second in the Trade Stand Competition, was really busy with visitors.
Pictured to the left is Alumni Officer Katie Burt with Ian Bates, a student in the 1970s who now runs his own feed supplements business, Stock-Pride Nutrition Ltd.
We were delighted to be awarded two awards in the Nantwich International Cheese Show. Our Cheshire cheese took silver in a highly contested class for Novice Cheesemakers and our Derby cheese was awarded bronze in the specialist cheesemaker section. Both cheeses were made by our Year 2 Eden students and weighed 20kg.
This was a great accolade for our students, as this show is truly the best of the best, with 4,400 cheeses entered from 23 countries! Staff from our Food Centre stewarded for the judges.
Here’s Food Technologists Andrea Winkler, Jane Gilman and Penny Masters with our award winning cheeses.
Three of our Bakery and Patisserie students had a great experience assisting celebrity chefs James Martin, Will Holland, Jonathan Harrison and Sean Wilson during their cooking demonstrations. Cedric Mandaya and Jordan Slawinski have just finished their Level 3 course and are off to find jobs while Aaron Dixon is moving onto Level 3 from Level 2 in September.
Here they are with James Martin.
We also had success showing youngstock from the Reaseheath Holstein dairy herd – our students came away with five rosettes!
Kirsty Taylor won a heifer class with Reaseheath Fever Marissa and Liberty Turner with Reaseheath Fever Livorno came second.
Becky Harper won the handler class (21 -26 yrs) while Kirsty took second and Liberty was third in the handler class (17 – 20 yrs)
We also showed three lambs in the butchers lamb class.