Young CatZero crew sail to London to bring historic charter replica to Grimsby
GROUP WILL RECEIVE TOP TRAINING FOR POP-UP FISH RESTAURANT FROM AWARD-WINNING CHEF
GRIMSBY’S fishing history and its nationwide connections will be honoured when the town receives a replica of an historic Royal Charter.
Eight young people aged 18-24 set sail aboard CatZero and have now arrived in London.
The crew were welcomed by the Fishmongers’ Company, having travelled down from Grimsby in CatZero’s 72-foot Challenge yacht.
The group will enjoy a visit to the Brigade Bar and Kitchen to receive training for a pop-up fish restaurant, which is to be hosted by CatZero at Grimsby Town Football Club’s McMenemy’s suite, on Thursday, June 9.
In honour of the Fishmongers’ Company’s 750th anniversary year, a replica of an historic Royal Charter will be handed to the CatZero team, today, for them to return to Grimsby’s Fishing Heritage Centre.
The first Royal Charter was granted to the Fishmongers’ Company in 1272, recognising the role it has played at London’s historic Billingsgate Fish Market.
Hailed as Britain’s largest inland fish market, Billingsgate has enjoyed a long-standing relationship with Great Grimsby and its fishing and processing sectors, and the presentation of the replica of the oldest surviving charter, from 1547, will mark the anniversary and the ongoing relationship between the Fishmongers’ and seafood industry companies and workers across the port.
CatZero operations and partnership manager Pete Tighe said: “The whole programme for the coming weeks is very exciting and it will provide young people on our CRF programme, and the Beyond Food team from London, with a fantastic opportunity to learn new skills.
“They will have the chance to learn how to cook high-end cuisine, tutored by award-winning chef
Simon Boyle as well as experiencing front of house service and customer engagement, in addition to many transferrable skills.”
The busy CRF group will swap in Portsmouth with a team from London charity Beyond Food Foundation, who will return to Grimsby with the Fishmongers’ charter on June 5.
The foundation offers “free, lifechanging, interactive workshops to motivate and inspire people who have experienced homelessness, vulnerability and poverty”.
It has strong links with celebrity chef Simon Boyle’s restaurant Brigade Bar and Kitchen, where the Grimsby CRF participants are also due to train for their big, pop-up restaurant moment.
Back on land, the CRF and Beyond Food teams will unite first at Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre, on Thursday, June 9, where a replica of the first portrait of HRH Queen Elizabeth II will be presented to the museum and North East Lincolnshire Mayor, Steve Beasant, by the Fishmongers’ Company, along with the replica charter, sailed up the east coast by CatZero.
The event will include Icelandic Ambassador Sturla Sigurjónsson, and embassy representatives will also be present to celebrate the important commercial relationship between Humberside and Iceland.
Icelandic fish is one of the seafood industry’s biggest imports locally.
After the presentation, invited guests will meet at Grimsby Town FC for the CatZero-hosted luncheon, cooked by CRF and Beyond Food, before many go on to attend the grand final of the UK Young Seafood Chef of the Year, hosted by Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education at the town’s University Centre.
Sponsored by Young’s Seafood, the competition seeks to find the finest young UK chefs under 25 years of age, and nine teams will progress to the final on June 9.
They will have the chance to learn how to cook highend cuisine, tutored by award-winning chef Simon Boyle ...
Pete Tighe