When Shelley Macfie’s marriage ended she turned to food.
Not in the comfort-eating sense, but in a life-changing, career-forging way.
“I have always been a foodie, since forever,” Shelley says. “So I thought, ‘pick yourself up and start all over again’.”
So, she did and enrolled at WITT.
In 2009, she completed the Certificate in Culinary Arts (Level 3) and the following year gained a Diploma in Professional Cookery (Level 5). The latter contains three qualifications – the Diploma in Professional Cookery, plus the City & Guilds Diploma in Food Preparation and Culinary Art and the Diploma in Patisserie.
The 50-something woman says she enjoyed studying alongside young people and now works with a younger crew at the Stratford Mountain House, where she is a sous chef.
“I do the prep work,” she says. “The desserts and baking are pretty much all mine.”
Shelley also gets vegetables ready for cooking, makes sauces and is the general all-rounder in the kitchen.
The mother of three adult children loves it all and says the Mountain House is a great place to work. “It’s quite a destination, so we get big groups up there of 45 to 50,” she says. There are also a few weddings on the books.
“I love working with food, but the best part is the people I work with. We have a lot of laughs.”
“WITT worked for me,” she says. “I had the right attitude and I worked; I took notes and studied. I was doing it with a passion because I was doing something I wanted to do.”
Shelley’s dream is to own a little restaurant: “Something nice and intimate with good food.”