A catering team based at HMP Guys Marsh in Dorset has been shortlisted for the final of this year’s BBC Points West 'Cookery Team of the Year'. 

Nominated for their fantastic daily contributions as well as the variety of projects they are involved in, the team was visited by the BBC cameras last week to film a slot for Tuesday 12th June’s BBC Points West news, and tutors from the prison will attend the finals the following evening.

The annual awards are for catering teams who have gone above and beyond in providing a particularly great service to their community. The HMP Guys Marsh team was nominated for working within a particularly challenging prison community, providing a great daily service, and for their innovative engagement in wider prison community projects.

The team is made up of Weston College catering tutor Luke Trott and a group of prison learners who are working towards their NVQ L2 Diploma in Catering and Hospitality. The offenders achieve this nationally recognised qualification while working in the prison kitchen, where they often cook bespoke lunches for prison-wide events. 

Throughout 2017 and 2018, the team cooked a range of meals celebrating different faiths, catered for regular family days for visiting relatives, and held a weekly Ready, Steady Cook challenge. Local restaurants visited the prison to meet with learners and sample the food from the challenge events, leading to at least one of the learners being offered a job placement upon release.

The team uses fresh produce grown on site by their peers on horticulture courses, learning about the benefits of using locally sourced goods. They also have to budget many of the dishes and ensure that the daily food served is nutritious, healthy and inclusive of all faiths and beliefs.

We wish them luck at Wednesday’s ceremony where they are up against two other worthy contenders, and look forward to continuing to sample their fantastic work over the coming months and years.