20 Dec 2023 Community

The Kirkwood catering team review 2023

The Kirkwood catering team have made some fantastic meals in 2023 and are looking forward to making more great meals in 2024. 

We continue to care for hundreds of people across the Kirklees community with a life limiting illness. We can only do this with people’s very generous donations towards The Kirkwood, your donations make a huge difference with every penny going back into patient care. If you would like to make a donation click the link HERE and help us to support life. 

This year our amazing catering staff have come up with some unbelievable tasty food across the whole 365 days in 2023. Every meal whether it’s for a staff member, volunteer or patient and their family has been cooked with love, warmth, and care.

Matthew Horsfield head chef has headed up the catering team for several years and he is pleased with how the last year has gone but is always striving for more.

Reviewing the last year in The Kirkwood kitchen, he said: “2023 has been an up and down year for the whole team. This year we have endured staffing issues and have still felt the effects of the pandemic with people slowly returning to our dining room across the year.

“We have managed to keep consistency throughout though and despite some difficulties we have received some great feedback from people who have visited us to taste our meals.

“We have welcomed many new staff members both in the kitchen and the wider hospice which is great. We have made new connections with the allotment community too.

“Overall, it has been a great year, and we are in a much stronger position going forward than we were at the beginning of the year. There are lots of positive plans going forward for what should be an exciting 2024.

“It's amazing to see the canteen thriving and more people than ever tasting our food, it makes me feel very proud of the whole catering department and allows us to showcase our skills.

“It is so wonderful to be able to see the dining room full of happy people switching off from work and just chatting and enjoying lovely fresh food. It all feels a bit like it did before we’d heard of Covid, long may the good vibes continue.”

On his hopes for 2024, Matthew added: “My hopes for 2024 are to continue to grow our food offerings and to continue to build on our homegrown theme wherever possible.

“Food costs are currently soaring so I am hoping to see a decrease in them so we can continue to provide our food offerings at the great prices we currently charge.

“The subsidised food for staff is an amazing perk when restaurants and eating out is becoming more and more of a treat. I’m pleased that our staff love the food that we make, and we’ll continue to keep them well fed so that they can go and do the wonderful work they do in caring for our patients every single day.”

When pressed about what his favourite meal has been in 2023 that the team has cooked, he found it hard to choose.

He commented: “We have cooked lots of lovely meals throughout the year, it's hard to pick just one, one of the biggest achievements in terms of the food is the amount of homegrown organic food we have been able to provide patients with, and that is down to the help of our volunteer gardeners.

“This is huge for the hospice and creates a real USP for us as well as all the benefits that come with eating organic.”