MARTIN SEDGWICK – BAKERY MANAGER, DORRINGTONS BAKERS & CONFECTIONERS VISIT TO RICHEMONT BAKERY SCHOOL 17 TH – 21 ST OCTOBER 2010 JOSEPH TRAVELLING AWARD

CANDIDATE PROFILE MARTIN SEDGWICK I am a committed and enthusiastic individual with over 23 years experience as a Baker/Confectioner. I am motivated by a challenge and pride myself on successfully adapting to changes. I possess excellent communication and organisational skills and I set demanding goals for myself which I constantly achieve, delivering my work to an extremely high standard. I care passionately about the work that myself and my staff produce and attention to detail is of paramount importance to me. I am currently the Bakery Manager at Dorringtons Bakery in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire and I am responsible for the running of the Bakery (day shift and night shift) and for the production of all goods for our 15 shops. I am responsible for approximately 30 staff, managing their performance, training, holidays, sickness etc. I am head of product development and attend our senior management meeting on a weekly basis to discuss new products and new ideas. I am fortunate to be in a position that if I have an idea which I believe will be good for the business I am able to develop it and put it into production. I was thrilled to be awarded a place on this prestigious trip to the Richemont Bakery in Lucerne and my personal objectives for the course was to learn new techniques, whilst developing my existing skills. It was also a great opportunity to meet with other Bakers and people in a similar role to me and also younger individuals who wanted to become Bakers too.

COURSE AGENDA 2 DAY COURSE AT THE RICHEMONT BAKERY SCHOOL TO LEARN THE TECHNIQUES AND SKILLS OF DISPLAY/COMPETITION BREADS, IE. SYRUP DOUGHS. TO LEARN THE SKILLS AND TECHNIQUES OF MAKING GANACHE/CHOCOLATE AND MARZIPAN WORK

DAY 1 On Sunday 17 th October I travelled with 22 other candidates to Zurich to attend a 2 day course at the Richemont Bakery School in Lucerne. After settling in at our hotel which was situated overlooking lake Lucern the group met for a Welcome Dinner followed by entertainment courtesy of the Worshipful Company of Bakers. The dinner was held at Stadtkeller, a traditional folklore restaurant and the evening was hosted by Liveryman and Group Leader, David Mizon. The evening was extremely enjoyable and it was a great way of getting to know other members of the group and settle in. Our meal was a variety of traditional Swiss dishes which included a cheese fondue and it was good to try these dishes. We also tried some very good swiss beers!

Day 2 On Monday 18 th October we started our two day course at the Richemont Bakery School. We had breakfast at the Richemont Bakery School which was next to our hotel and then we followed onto the bakery where Mr David Goddard, the Master of the Worshipful Company joined us at the start of the day for an introduction and then again at the end of the day. Our first baking day was headed up by Thomas Doetkotte and he was assisted by Marcel, Urs and Barbara. Their knowledge and skills were amazing and everything they showed us was produced to a very high standard. Our task was to make a competition piece out of syrup dough which I had never made or used before. It was an interesting process and we were shown how to make the dough, the moulding of it and then how to airbrush the dough with food colour before baking it and then leaving it to cool before finishing the show pieces off. It was an interesting process and great to learn these new techniques and skills and ones that I intend to use in the future.

Day 3 The following day, Tuesday 19 th October we once again had a group breakfast and then followed on the Bakery school where we learned the skills and techniques of Ganache and chocolate couvatore with Silvia, Martina and Peter Walchli. We made Baileys truffles, bars of chocolate and a butter ganache. We also learnt how to caramalize hazlenuts to add to the chocolate bars. All of these techniques were new to me and again I hope to use some of these skills in the future. We then had lunch and afterwards we learnt the skill of moulding marzipan making different figures with it. Since I have been back to work I have used these techniques which I learnt and I hope to incorporate some of these skills in my daily work in the future. In the evening we returned to the Richemont for a meal and presentation with the Richemont Bakery School teams who had been teaching us for the two days.

Day 4 Once again we had breakfast at the Richemont Bakery followed by an organised tour of Lucerne, its bakery shops, cafes and chocolate shops! It was extremely interesting to see the sights of Lucerne and we visited the Lion Monument which is a sculpture and commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, it is an extremely moving sculpture. The afternoon we were free to explore Lucerne and we visited some bakery and chocolate shops which were amazing, the variety and quality of the products are very impressive. In the evening I enjoyed a meal and drinks with some of the other people I met on the course. Day 5 Travelled home via Zurich where we had a couple of hours to spend looking around the beautiful city.

Summary Summary I thought that the course was a fantastic opportunity for me and I learnt some excellent new skills and techniques which have enhanced my existing knowledge and skills further and I certainly intend to use these skills in my daily job. I also think that this is a great opportunity for the college students to attend Richemont and not only to be trained by top professionals but also to meet real bakers on the course and to be able to talk to them about the real world of baking. The course has also made me realise that there is a huge amount of talent still in the baking industry and I am proud to be part of that. The whole event was extremely well organised and enjoyable and I think it is certainly worth all the effort and cost which the Worshipful Company of Bakers contribute and I am sure that everyone who gets the opportunity to take part in the trip appreciates this.