Eastleigh College tutor wins Best Chef Lecturer award

Greg Cheeseman, Chef Lecturer at Eastleigh College, has been awarded a prestigious award at the Professional Association for Catering Education (PACE) awards.

Greg was awarded the Best Chef Lecturer, coming ahead of three other chefs from across the UK who were also shortlisted for the award. The PACE awards are open to individuals, departments and Colleges that have introduced outstanding learning initiatives or techniques in hospitality training and development. Greg was nominated for the award by a colleague at Eastleigh College for his commitment to teaching and his involvement in extracurricular activities for the students.

Greg was honoured to have won the award, “I’m grateful and proud to have been chosen for this award, but it’s not just for me – I see it as an award for all the work we do as a team.”

This academic year Greg has been mentoring Level 3 Hospitality and Catering student Ashesh Purja, who reached the final of the national WorldSkills competition earlier this year. Greg has also been actively involved in creating a new after-school programme for school pupils, ‘The Junior Chefs Programme’, which launches in April and May this year.

Greg has also been arranging an increasing number of industry guest speakers, competitions and trips to a variety of hotels and restaurants for the students. He says, “The students really benefit from experiencing how things work in a professional environment.”  Recent visits include Hotel Olympia and Lainston House.

The winners of the PACE awards were announced this month at a Gala dinner during the PACE annual conference, held at the London Hilton Docklands. Over 150 people from across the Hospitality and Catering sector were in attendance, from Colleges to authors.

To find out more about the Hospitality and Catering courses at Eastleigh College, please visit our careers page.