LMC launches Bay School of Hospitality and announces partnership with Gilpin Hotel

Lancaster & Morecambe College is launching their new Bay School of Hospitality with the exciting news that they have partnered with the award-winning team at Gilpin, one of the region’s top destination venues.  

The partnership will allow LMC Catering students and apprentices the opportunity to take part in a range of masterclasses and cooking demos with Gilpin’s team of chefs, including Ollie Bridgwater, Aakash Ohol and Tom Westerland, whilst working towards achieving the prestigious Gilpin Ambassador’s Award. 

Adult learners on LMC’s part-time culinary programme will have the chance to take part in a Masterchef-inspired Chefs’ Challenge Award, where they will create dishes based upon one of the Gilpin menus; with 3 award-winning restaurants to choose from, the students will be able to showcase their skills and will have their dishes judged by the Gilpin team.  

Gilpin's Head of People and Culture, Helen Tappenden, said: 

We're incredibly proud to be able to support the upcoming talent in the hospitality and catering industries, and it's even better that we can work to retain some of the amazing homegrown talent the North West has to offer. The partnership with LMC has been bubbling away for a few months, and we're excited to be able to officially launch our work together. We already have our first employee from the college too, so its talent development in action and at its best."

The partnership with the Gilpin team coincides with a complete rebrand of LMC’s catering and hospitality offer, with the launch of the new Bay School of Hospitality and the Bay Restaurant at LMC (formally Coulson’s Restaurant) which is scheduled to open to the public in late autumn.  

Chef lecturer at LMC, Alessandro Possamai, has been working alongside his colleagues and the LMC Employer Engagement team to develop the new venture; 

This industry is fast-paced and ever-changing, and we wanted to bring a fresh approach to our teaching so that we can prepare our learners for lifelong careers in hospitality.  Working in partnership with the team at Gilpin, as our Hospitality Ambassadors, will give our learners excellent training opportunities and career progression.

To kick-start the new partnership, head chef from the Knipe Grill at Gilpin Lake House, Tom Westerland, will join LMC’s Senior Chef Lecturer Adrian Law for a cookery demonstration at the College’s Community Open Day on Saturday, 1^st July.  The event is free to attend and runs from 10am – 3pm. 

Applications are now open for all full-time and part-time Catering and Hospitality courses, which are scheduled to run September 2023.