Skyping Classes are the Future
News release
25th September 2013
Budding chefs at Boston College have had their first taste of the world of professional cooking with a Gordon Ramsay-style cook-along using the internet.
Trainee students at Boston College’s Hospitality and Catering Department were given a private cookery lesson by top head chefs from Reform at The Castle Hotel in Lincoln and The Electric Bar and Restaurant at DoubleTree by Hilton Lincoln.
Lincolnshire County Council’s onlincolnshire project set up a two-way Skype video feed on Monday (23rd September) for the cookery lesson as a way to demonstrate the possibilities superfast broadband offers.
Mark Cheseldine from Reform and Phil Henson from The Electric Bar and Restaurant were based at Lincoln College and used the live two-way TV link to offer tips and hints and critique the students’ techniques as they prepared dishes made using Select Lincolnshire produce.
A judging panel in Boston scored each student on their efforts. Budding chef Georgia Claxton, 18, from Long Sutton won the event and will now spend a day working in both restaurants.
“I’m really pleased to have won,” she said. “It was quite a nerve-wracking thing to do but I’m delighted to have done so well.
“The main course was the kind of thing that we’ve done at college before so it wasn’t completely new to us. It was really helpful to have Phil and Mark on the screen showing us what to do.
“I’m really looking forward to working in the restaurants; it should be a great experience getting a day of cooking in two professional kitchens.”
Details of the event were live-tweeted as it happened using the hashtag #cookdigital. Pictures were also posted on the onlincolnshire Facebook page by social media expert Glenn Le Santo. The cook-along was part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Steve Cottrell, Programme Area Manager for Catering and Hospitality at Boston College, said: “This has been an amazing and worthwhile event for everyone concerned, especially for the students, who were very professional and coped with the pressures well.
“The technology proved to be very effective and enabled great communication between Lincoln College and Boston College. The event was a brilliant experience for the students and a great springboard into work experience and jobs within the industry.
“Congratulations to Georgia, who will now get to experience working with great chefs in Lincoln.”
Part of the onlincolnshire project has been to engage with digital businesses and champion the work done by creative companies in the county. For the cook-along, Bright Spark Studios oversaw the Skype streaming, including project management using a vision mixer and streaming computer. Peachy Events Services provided AV support at both sites with the microphones and plasma screens, while Electric Egg were brought in as camera crews at both sites.
Epix Media has also been involved and will produce a timelapse video of the event at Boston.
Judging the meal – roast lion of pork with butternut squash textures – were Amanda Mosek, Principal of Boston College; Lydia Rusling from Lincolnshire County Council; and Jez Ashberry from Shooting Star PR.
Councillor Colin Davie, Executive Member for Economic Development at Lincolnshire County Council, said: “This was the perfect way for us to show the different ways that people – especially learning establishments – can make use of the Internet. We had a great team of professionals to help make this a reality. It was hugely successful and I think will go a long way to opening the doors for other colleges, schools and universities.”
For more on the onlincolnshire project, visit www.onlincolnshire.org
Ends
Notes to Editors:
About onlincolnshire
• onlincolnshire is a Lincolnshire County Council-run project which is part-funded by the East Midlands European Regional Development Fund Programme 2007 to 2013.
• Some Internet users in rural Lincolnshire experience speeds of less than 1 Mbps. The UK’s average broadband speed is 7.6 Mbps, according to Ofcom.
• The contract with BT concentrates on an intervention area of over 150,000 premises where existing or planned commercial roll outs would not deliver superfast speeds. This will mean that at least 94% of all premises should have access to fibre broadband by April 2016.
• The Department for Communities and Local Government is the managing authority for the European Regional Development Fund Programme, which is one of the funds established by the European Commission to help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support local businesses and create jobs. For more information visit www.communities.gov.uk/erdf
About Boston College
• Boston College runs full-time, day release and work-based courses from Level 1 to 3 in NVQ Professional Cookery and VRQ Professional Food and Beverage Service.
• All students study for both front and back of house, from planning events and supervising busy restaurants to preparing and cooking fresh, local and seasonal ingredients.
• The students cater for many high-profile events around the county each year, including the Boston Mayor’s Civic Dinner, Boston Business Awards and Lincolnshire Bomber Command Memorial Dinner.
About Select Lincolnshire
• Select Lincolnshire is raising the profile of Lincolnshire whether it is promoting and attracting investment into the county, signposting local produce within the county or sending the best of Lincolnshire’s food and drink across the UK
• The Select Lincolnshire for Food project is delivered by the Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Lincolnshire County Council. It gives the county's food, drink, tourism, hospitality, agriculture and horticulture sectors a unified brand. www.selectlincolnshire.com.
About Lincoln College
• Based over two sites in Lincolnshire (Lincoln and Gainsborough) and one site in Nottinghamshire (Newark), Lincoln College is the largest educational institution in the county.
• Lincoln College was graded ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted in 2011 and has 3,700 full time students and a total of around 9,000 students over our three sites.
• Catering and Hospitality programmes contribute to a list of over 450 vocational qualifications and 50 academic programmes, with other areas of study including, construction, business, A-Levels, beauty, social care, the arts and many more. Visit www.lincolncollege.ac.uk to find the comprehensive list of courses.
Cerri Delaney
Shooting Star PR
01522 528540
07985 143990
cerri@shootingstar-pr.co.uk
www.shootingstar-pr.co.uk
t: @CerriDelaney
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