The Fifteen London Apprentices Graduate!

On Monday 26th September, over 400 guests (including Fifteen staff members, supporters and trustees, apprentices’ friends and family, apprentices old and new, and of course Jamie Oliver himself) got together to celebrate the success of our 9th group of apprentices at the Class of 2011 Graduation Ceremony, held at the London Film Museum on the South Bank.

The ceremony was the climax to a year of hard work and commitment on the part of our apprentices. As well as completing their Level 2 professional qualification at Lewisham College, they trained and passed every section of the Fifteen kitchen, went on work experience at top UK restaurants and learnt about food provenance on sourcing trips. As with every year, there were high and lows and unfortunately not everyone was able to make it to the end of the course yet the Class of 2011 proved to be one of our most impressive to date. As Jamie put it: “The 14 young people graduating this year were such an inspiring, hard-working and loyal bunch. Every one of them has had an opportunity to shine in their own way, and people who have come into contact with them have openly praised their dedication and energy”.

The theme of the evening was ‘Hollywood Glamour’ and our 14 graduates certainly looked the part. Just like a night at the Oscars, awards were handed out to individuals who had particularly shone throughout the year, and each graduating apprentice had to bravely make their way onto the stage to receive their certificate and dogtag and make a short acceptance speech.

The new Class of 2012 apprentices were also there, handing out canapés they’d made and getting a glimpse of where they could be in a year’s time. To date, a massive 109 young people have graduated from Fifteen’s Apprentice Programme with next year marking our 10th year anniversary.

A huge congratulations goes out to Charles Aston, Adeline Boyd, Billy Brennan, Andrew Foster, Jai Harrower, Johnny Jones, Alaine Lemaire, Janek Flemyng, Emma Ogoe, Katie Opher, Oliver Quelch, Mercy Taembo, Dong Tran and Jack Wells! Thanks as well to the London Film Museum for providing such a unique venue and helping our event run smoothly.

About the author: Harriet Cary is the Outreach Worker for the Fifteen apprentice programme.