All the ingredients for a fantastic career

To celebrate the 21st anniversary of Chestnut Tree House, we’ve been catching up with our longest-standing members of staff, to find out how the hospice has changed over the years, and what they love about working here. 

Vanessa’s been keeping bellies full and smiles on faces for 20 years as our Chef Manager. During her time here, she’s seen the evolution and growth of our services, as well as keeping the 1,100 children and young people who we’ve supported since 2003 well fed – plus hundreds of family members and staff too. Meals aren’t the only thing Vanessa’s provided over her two decades here, she’s also been responsible for some iconic cakes for fundraising events, our annual Snowman Ball and our 10th anniversary. 

We caught up with Vanessa to talk about how she got started at Chestnut Tree House, and what makes working here so special:

“My friend from the parent and baby group was a nurse at Chestnut Tree House at the time and she told me how they were desperate to recruit an evening cook. Having a young child at the time, the hours and location were convenient and with food being a particular passion of mine, it was an opportunity I couldn’t refuse. I came to look around and fell in love with the place.

I was only part time to begin with, as there wasn’t the funding then to take someone on full time. Gradually over the years, as funds increased, I was able to increase my hours to full time and about 5 years ago, I became the Chef Manager.

Feeding famous faces

There are lots of things I love about working here – the beautiful setting, the wildlife, but probably the best thing is being able to make a difference to families. Food is a big comfort to a lot of people, so it’s nice to be able to provide fresh, tasty meals and treats at a time when people really need comfort. If the kitchens aren’t too busy, we’ll do our best to feed children and families whatever they fancy.

Lots of famous people have visited over the years – Tommy Walsh, Helen Skelton, Gethin Jones and who can forget Simon Cowell arriving in a helicopter? The most memorable one for me though, was Peter Andre. He was really down to earth and made time to speak to everyone. On his first visit, we discussed our favourite meals to eat and he told me he loved lasagne. So, the next time he was visiting, I made a special effort and changed the menu so he could have lasagne for lunch. When he came up to the counter, I told him I’d made lasagne especially for him, and he told me he didn’t eat lunch!

Above: a selection of Vanessa’s cakes

A sprinkling of community spirit

When I first started, it felt like a home from home because there was always something going on or something special to look forward to. We had a much smaller team then and relied more on volunteers’ support. Lots has changed during my time here – the gardens have been landscaped, we now have a commercial kitchen that’s fit for purpose and the annex is no longer big enough to host all our special events!

One thing that hasn’t changed though is the community spirit here – everyone still helps each other out, it’s like having an extended family.