Council salutes catering supervisor after 34 years service

A top Catering Supervisor has been saluted by colleagues and students after retiring following 34 years of service.

Pam Brooks, 65, has managed the catering team at Ruskin High School in Crewe, for 34 years, delivering high-quality meals to students daily. During her career, Pam and the catering team received a ‘team of the year’ accolade, at an annual internal school catering awards event.

Pam said: “It was a difficult decision to choose to retire in December 2017 and I’ll really miss the girls I work with but most of all I’ll miss the children. Every day brings with it something new and you can never overstate the difference a hearty school meal can make to the childrens’ concentration levels. Good nutrition is everything.”

Cheshire East’s catering service, which operates under the name ‘Fresh Catering’, has a team of around 350 staff and serves 14,500 school meals every day to more than 100 schools in Cheshire East, using only fresh ingredients.

Each school which adopts the council’s catering services has its own operations manager, who oversees the delivery of meals. This role includes assessing each team member’s skills and identifying any training needs. This is in conjunction with ensuring all kitchen assistants have the required NVQs and up-to-date hygiene, health and safety and other relevant training qualifications.

Councillor Jos Saunders, Cheshire East Council cabinet member for children and families, said: “Pam’s commitment to our catering services over the past 34 years is inspiring, as is her dedication to ensuring students within our schools receive a balanced diet with a variety of healthy options each lunchtime.

“Eating nutritious food is vital for improving concentration levels and without optimum nutrition our children will fail to thrive or reach their full potential, when learning in the classroom.”

Pam, who lives near the school, will continue to visit the children and staff even in her well-earned retirement. She is looking forward to spending her time volunteering and spending more time with her family.