Pontefract hotel serves meals to more than 100 NHS workers

Staff at Wentbridge House Hotel prepared and helped to deliver 137 free meals for NHS workers.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

The hotel venue had no choice but to close its doors on Friday March 20, due to the coronavirus public safety guidelines. With the closure taking place on the weekend of Mother’s Day, staff were left with plenty of food.

Group Head of HR development, Faye Clough, met with the head chef, Josh Brimmell, to come up with ideas to ensure the stock didn’t go to waste.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Faye said: “We’d seen various posts online about how some NHS workers would finish their shift and couldn’t get the supplies and food they need to get them through the week, it was heartbreaking.

Staff at Wentbridge House Hotel prepared and helped to deliver 137 free meals forNHS workers.Staff at Wentbridge House Hotel prepared and helped to deliver 137 free meals forNHS workers.
Staff at Wentbridge House Hotel prepared and helped to deliver 137 free meals forNHS workers.

“After working with a local chief executive of a trust, we decided to reach out to NHS workers on social media, offering them free meals to be collected the following week on Monday.

“We received over 200 requests for meals with humbling and heart breaking messages from NHS staff, some of which have had to rely on food banks to feed their children due to stock piling behaviour.

“As well as serving food on the day, a chauffeur driver from Domino Transfer in Doncaster contacted us to offer his delivery services, a chef came down from the Bluebell to help out and loads of our staff volunteered to help prepare meals, even being out of work.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It’s been really heartwarming and lovely , I’m glad we did it, it goes to show there are people out there who aren’t benefiting from the crisis, we just wanted to do something nice that would help to look after an amazing team.”

By the end of Monday, the staff had cooked, served and delivered 137 meals, including soup, fresh bread, a cooked meal of stew and Yorkshire puddings with vegetables and various desserts.

More than 109 meals were collected at Wentbridge House Hotel, 28 were delivered to Pinderfields Hospital to the Cardiology and ATT Assessment Team who are directly looking after Covid-19 patients.

Josh Brimmell, head chef said: “On the Sunday, we all worked as a team in the kitchen and got everything together, everything was bagged up and ready to go for collection day.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Collections took place between 1pm and 6pm, so those interested booked time slot to come and collect their meal.

“The team set up 18 tables in the carpark, each at least two metres apart, because of the isolation recommendations, it’s not a natural instinct for people to stay apart, but everyone who came was so respectful and stuck to it.

“A big part of Wentbridge is playing a part in the community, and at a time like this, we want to be there for them as much as possible. It was the right thing to do, it would be criminal to waste all that food when there are so many people who can’t get hold of it.

“There are a few small businesses who are doing deliveries like this all the time and people should support them.”