A few years ago, Kayron Todman learned to prepare gourmet meals during the annual Adult Enrichment Hospitality Host and Hostess Seminar organised by the National Council of the Girls’ Brigade.
“She is a trained chef, but she was impressed by it,” said Mr. Todman, who returned for this year’s seminar, which started on Sept. 7 and ended on Sunday. “Being a part of these sessions scored me points. You’re never too old to improve on your culinary skills, and, being a bachelor, you have to learn how to cook and help yourself to some degree.”
That’s the sort of training that organisers had in mind when the programme was launched nine years ago, said Janice Nibbs Blyden, an officer with the Girls’ Brigade.
The session teaches adults basic hosting skills, including service, cooking and cocktail preparation.
The seminar started as a table-setting competition for young people — an event that is now hosted by the BVI Tourist Board — and spun into a class for adults, the organiser explained.
“The adults kept asking, ‘What about us? We would like to have something for us,’” Ms. Nibbs Blyden recalled. “So I created a competition for them, but they said, ‘We don’t want a competition: We would like to have the information, but we don’t want a competition.’ I think it has been a great success so far.”
Want to go?
The Adult Enrichment Hospitality Host and Hostess Seminar will be offered again from Sept. 21-25. Sessions will be held from 6:30-9:30 nightly in Audrianna’s Restaurant at Manuel Reef. The registration fee is $120. To register call Janice Nibbs Blyden at 499-1958, Kimberly Parker-Fraser at 443-1626, or Sarai Smith at 541-1880, or post a message on the Facebook page “2nd Virgin Islands Company Girls Brigade.”
See the Sept. 15, 2016 edition for full coverage.
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