Harefield care home’s chef selected to attend development day masterclass at Billingsgate Market

A chef at HC-One’s Cedar House Care Home, in Harefield, Middlesex, was recently selected to take part in a specialist masterclass with renowned chef CJ Jackson in London’s historic Billingsgate Fish Market.

Sumbal Raja, Chef at HC-One’s Cedar House Care Home in Harefield, Middlesex, was selected in recognition of her outstanding commitment to providing great food and kind care. Sumbal was nominated for the prestigious opportunity by her Group Development Chef, Pete Coles, who was blown away by the chef.

Sumbal was nominated for her hard work as well as her outstanding passion and dedication to developing her culinary skills to provide nutritious food and kind care to residents. Sumbal worked with Pete Coles, who supported Cedar House prior to the development day and identified the potential in the chef.

Along with seven other HC-One colleagues from across the UK, Sumbal was treated to a private masterclass from CJ Jackson, the Principal and Chief Executive of the prestigious Billingsgate Seafood School. The specialist culinary staff also toured the market and discussed the health benefits of fish for older people, from reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease to slowing the development of dementia.

Sumbal will bring this five-star flare back to Cedar House, applying the lessons from the masterclass to develop nutritious and imaginative meals for local residents. This was the second consecutive year HC-One has run this masterclass experience.

It was developed as part of HC-One’s programme of progression for catering colleagues across its care homes, including through its Group Development Chef scheme. The scheme supports catering colleagues of any level to progress to senior roles with additional leadership, strategy and innovation responsibilities.

Sumbal Raja, Chef at Cedar House Care Home, said: “I was overjoyed to be selected to attend the masterclass from hundreds of professionals across the country. Learning from a Chef as renowned as CJ Jackson was a real pinch-me moment, and I picked up lots of new ideas that I am excited to put into practice at Cedar House Care Home.”

Mark Meacham, Head of Catering and Housekeeping Support Services at HC-One, commented: “The training and development day at Billingsgate Market was another great success. Thank you to everyone involved including Robot Coupe for sponsoring the day and to CJ Jackson for providing such excellent and informative sessions.

“The day has provided an opportunity to recognise the hard work and dedication of Sumbal and some of our other HC-One colleagues who are such vital parts of our care homes. It was a joy to be able to provide them with the chance to learn and expand their knowledge as we support them to go from strength-to-strength in care home catering careers.”