Sponsorship
Flower Market College Day
3 November 2011
ECT Travel sponsored the Flower Market College Day at Covent Garden in London.
On the agenda for the day were the following highlights:
RHS Young Chelsea Florist of the Year Competition – the London Hub Heat managed by the BFA: the chance for students to exhibit at the world-famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May 2012. Individual entries must have been submitted to the UK Floristry Judges’ Guild judging area by 7am on 3 November.
NEW - High profile speaker: Industry expert and Publisher of the Florist & Wholesale Buyer Magazine, Caroline Marshall-Foster, will give a talk for Level 2s on ‘Making Money from Flowers’.
Exciting new demonstrator: Victoria Richards fresh from competing for the UK in WorldSkills UK. Victoria is a student of South Staffordshire College and works for Herbarium Florist in the West Midlands.
Thrive Floristry Bookshop: Claire Cowling staged a pop-up bookshop for the morning, offering a fantastic range of floristry publications for sale.
All this in addition to the fabulous activities at the core of this event:
The Flower Market College Competition for Levels 3 and 4: A dynamic and interactive way to engage students with the realities of purchasing, working to a brief on a tight budget and to a tight timescale, and as a team. Up to 2 teams of 4-5 students can be enter at each level from each college. Judging of the floral design element were undertaken by the UK Floristry Judges Guild.
The Flower Market Taster Day for Level 2: Designed to be stimulated, fun and informative introduction to the UK’s largest wholesale Flower Market for students, this day was packed with tours, questionnaires and workshops.
Meetings for tutors: the opportunity to network and catch up on what’s new in the world of floristry education and training.
Levels 3 and 4 - The Flower Market College Competition
The vast range of flowers, foliage, plants and sundries available New Covent Garden Flower Market gives students fantastic scope to explore more interesting varieties and fantastic seasonal materials than they will find anywhere else in the UK. By the end of the morning, students learnt about:
The logistics of a wholesale market; how to engage with market traders; how spot top quality materials and to use them wisely; why working with seasonal materials makes sense; where their flowers, foliage and plants come from; the importance of listening carefully to a specific project brief and delivering what the client wants; how to manage a budget and account for spend; teamwork.
Chef vs Chef
9 February 2012
ECT presented a prize of £100 towards flight costs and two nights bed & breakfast accommodation in Berlin (for two) for the winner of the over 23 category in an exciting cooking competition in Bath, Chef vs Chef.
Theresa McDermott, CEO of ECT Travel thought of the concept originally when she was chairing the Bath Chamber of Commerce’s Tourism Committee many years ago.
The competition proved such as success it is now in its seventh year and ECT Travel continues to support the competition, which encourages regional trainee chefs to show off their talent.
Theresa said: “I read an article in a magazine referring to our culinary heritage and the quality of our cooking. I felt we needed to celebrate and encourage our local trainee chefs who eventually will be working in local restaurants. I discussed the concept with Stuart Ash, Head Chef from Woods Restaurant and we came up with the idea of a competition to include locally produced quality ingredients.”
Sandy Bell from the Bath Chamber of Commerce helped set up our first meetings to agree the way forward and Andrew Berman Catering Services International agreed to be a sponsor of the event.
The Shrubbery Restaurant at the City of Bath College has become the regular venue for this ‘cook off’, with the over 23 and under 23 categories judged by Gary Jones, the Executive Head Chef of the famous Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons restaurant, Stuart Mcleod, Development Director of Zuidam.uk, Scott Lucas of the Craft Guild of Chefs and celebrity chef, Martin Blunos.
Inspired to cook by his Granny, Stephen Whittaker, 27, from City Café at Mint Hotel in Bristol made it a dream competition debut by taking the gold medal in the over 23 category. Silver went to Kamil Wojciech from Longleat Homewood Park Hotel and bronze was picked up by George Kostka of Ronnies Restaurant in Thornbury.
“This was a really tough competition and the standard was incredibly high. I am really proud to have come out on top. I think this will push me to go in for other cooking competitions,” said Stephen.
Coventry Cathedral Flower Festival
5th-8th May 2012
ECT Travel is sponsoring the Coventry Cathedral Flower Festival entitled ‘The Power and the Glory’ to celebrate 50 years of NAFAS South Midlands and Coventry Cathedral – making it a very special anniversary event.
To celebrate both Golden anniversaries the members of NAFAS are staging a four day festival in the Cathedral with over 50 designs, to commemorate the artists and craftsmen who built Coventry Cathedral and made it Britain’s most loved 20th century building.
Tickets £10
Early bird ticket £8 (until 1st April 2012)
Available from Jean Carter
Tel: 01789 400185
E-mail:
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Coach enquires
Tel: 02476 521338
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Please book in advance
Demonstration
Saturday 5th May – Jayne Edmonds
Monday 7th May – Jonathan Moseley
Workshop
Tuesday 8th May – Laura Leong
All proceeds to Coventry Cathedral 2012
ECT has committed to sponsorship of NAFAS on an ongoing basis.
Terms and Conditions
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