Three-times Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie will be the first person to carry the Olympic torch in the UK when it begins its 70 day journey on 19th May. The torch will travel 8,000 miles in total, starting from Land’s End and passing through 1018 cities, towns and villages before finally reaching the Olympic Stadium on 27th July.

VWA will be charting the progress of the Olympic torch by offering delegates 10% off all courses booked on the day that the torch is in your area. For example, if your company is based in Liverpool and you make your booking on 1st June, you’ll receive 10% off the normal price.

If the torch is in your locality on a weekend or bank holiday, simply book online or send an email to office@vwa.co.uk to confirm your booking and get your 10% discount.

The discount applies to all food safety, nutrition, HACCP or specialist courses taking place either in-house or at our training facility in Skipton, North Yorkshire, at any time this year.

Look out for daily Tweets and updates throughout the relay period and find out when the torch is in your area by clicking here for the official London 2012 relay route, or see below.

Date Start Finish
19th May Land’s End Plymouth
20th May Plymouth Exeter
21st May Exeter Taunton
22nd May Taunton Bristol
23rd May Bristol Cheltenham
24th May Gloucester Worcester
25th May Worcester Cardiff
26th May Cardiff Swansea
27th May Swansea Aberystwyth
28th May Aberystwyth Bangor
29th May Beaumaris Chester
30th May Chester Stoke-on-Trent
31st May Stoke-on-Trent Bolton
1st June Bolton Liverpool
2nd June Douglas Castletown
3rd June Belfast Portrush
4th June Coleraine Derry
5th June Derry Newry
6th June Dublin Belfast
7th June Newcastle Moorfields
8th June Stranraer Glasgow
9th June Glasgow Inverness
10th June Kirkwall Lerwick
11th June Stornoway Aberdeen
12th June Aberdeen Dundee
13th June St Andrew’s Edinburgh
14th June Edinburgh Alnick
15th June Alnick Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
16th June Gateshead Durham
17th June Durham Middlesbrough
18th June Middlesbrough Hull
19th June Hull York
20th June York Carlisle
21st June Dumfries Bowness-on-Windermere
22nd June Kendal Blackpool
23rd June Lytham-St-Anne’s Lancaster
24th June Salford Leeds
25th June Leeds Sheffield
26th June Sheffield Cleethorpes
27th June Grimsby Lincoln
28th June Lincoln Nottingham
29th June Nottingham Derby
30th June Derby Birmingham
1st July Birmingham Coventry
2nd July Coventry Leicester
3rd July Leicester Peterborough
4th July Peterborough Norwich
5th July Norwich Ipswich
6th July Ipswich Chelmsford
7th July Chelmsford Cambridge
8th July Cambridge Luton
9th July Luton Oxford
10th July Oxford Reading
11th July Reading Salisbury
12th July Salisbury Weymouth
13th July Portland Bill Bournemouth
14th July Bournemouth Southampton
15th July Southampton Portsmouth
16th July Portsmouth Brighton & Hove
17th July Brighton & Hove Hastings
18th July Hastings Dover
19th July Deal Maidstone
20th July Maidstone Guildford
21st July Greenwich Waltham Forest
22nd July Redbridge Bexley
23rd July Lewisham Wandsworth
24th July Kingston Ealing
25th July Harrow Haringey
26th July Camden Westminster
27th July Hampton Court Olympic Stadium

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Which flavours course is right for you?

by AliW on May 11, 2012

At VWA we are pleased to be able to offer two different courses on the subject of flavours. Both are tutored by renowned flavourist Dr David Baines and applications expert Richard Seal but will appeal to delegates from different backgrounds.

Creating Savoury Flavours

This 5-day course is aimed at those who are already employed as flavourists at food manufacturing or ingredients companies and are looking to the course for expertise and guidance in new ways of formulating and evaluating savoury flavours. It is a specialist lab-based course which has a high practical content and is suitable for those responsible for developing and enhancing flavours in products such as sauces, seasonings, snack products, ready meals, soups, dairy products etc.

Creating Savoury Flavours allows flavourists to go back to basics and focus on the components and construction of a savoury flavour. They will: undertake experiments with process reaction flavours, enzyme modified flavours and topnotes; examine the interaction between the different components and study synergies and clashes; understand how a flavour functions in the final food and trace that performance back to individual components within the formula. An essential element built into this course is the emphasis on creativity and how it can be stimulated and used to give fresh impetus to the role of the flavourist.

 

Understanding Flavours

By contrast, Understanding Flavours is a 2-day introduction to both savoury and sweet flavours which will appeal to a wider variety of people working within the food industry. If you work with flavours but are not responsible for creating and developing them, then this course will give you an insight into how they are created and an understanding of their role. It is also suitable for junior flavourists who

Understanding flavours is also a useful introduction to those who are considering a career as a flavourist, or are just taking their first steps in the industry. It combines lectures with practical elements of the course being carried out in teams.  These practicals reveal how a flavour is built-up and gives delegates the chance to create their own flavours from scratch.

The course will also be beneficial to those responsible in the legal, marketing and labelling departments of food manufacturing and flavouring companies and people working in the catering and restaurant trade. Topics covered include flavour enhancers, alternatives to MSG, how to maintain the impact of flavours over shelf life, flavour perception, balance, flavouring substances and legislation.

For more information about each course and forthcoming dates, please click here

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Healthy Eating in Schools – A Handbook of Practical Case Studies @FoodRev @JamieOliver

April 26, 2012

Edited by leading nutrition expert, Dr Verner Wheelock, this book contains 30 case studies from the UK and abroad, focusing on schools, local authorities and businesses that have successfully improved the food being served to school children. Why was the book published? This book is full of good ideas that really work and the aim [...]

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National Allergy Week @AllergyUK1 #allergyweek

April 24, 2012

An Apple A Day Won’t Keep The Hay Fever Away Allergy UK has revealed how having five a day can cause havoc for hay fever sufferers If pollen wasn’t making the nation miserable enough, Allergy UK has revealed that eating fruit and veg can unwittingly cause problems for some hay fever sufferers. New consumer research[1] [...]

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Great British Beef Week #GBBW @ladiesinbeef @RedTractorFood

April 23, 2012

With a royal wedding last year and the country gearing up for the Olympics and Queen’s Diamond Jubilee it’s a great time to celebrate being British. And food-wise what could be more British than a traditional roast beef dinner? Aptly, Great British Beef Week kicks off on St George’s Day 23rd April and this year [...]

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Support Project Waterfall during UK Coffee Week @UKcoffeeweek

April 23, 2012

The economic recession certainly doesn’t appear to have affected Britain’s coffee shops, which are continuing to expand at a rate of knots. From small independent cafes to the big names like Starbucks, Costa, Pret a Manger and Cafe Nero, they’re breeding like rabbits! It seems we Brits can’t get enough espressos, lattes, macchiatos, cappuccinos, americanos  [...]

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Our First Understanding Flavours Course – what went on

April 19, 2012

VWA’s inaugural Understanding Flavours course took place last week at Craven College, Skipton, North Yorkshire. ‘Understanding Flavours’ is aimed at giving an introduction to both savoury and sweet flavours, their composition and role to those involved in the development, manufacture and marketing of food as well as trainee flavourists. At the helm were seasoned flavourists [...]

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New FSA Food Hygiene Rating Scheme

April 4, 2012

Craven District, our local council, is one of the many local authorities across England, Wales and Northern Ireland supporting the Food Standards Agency’s new Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) and we went along to the launch event last week in Skipton. Around 50 Skipton food businesses which had been awarded 5 stars were invited to the event [...]

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Bacon Connoisseurs Week 19th -25th March

March 16, 2012

You’ve heard of Curry Week, Food Safety Fortnight and British Sausage Week. Well this week is the preserve of pork lovers everywhere – it’s Bacon Connoisseurs Week! There’s an old saying that the only part of a pig that you can’t eat is the grunt and that’s not far from the truth. There’s more to [...]

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Correct nutrition can make a huge difference to elderly in care

March 8, 2012

Having the correct nutrition can make a significant difference to a person’s wellbeing. Several studies have shown that the correct diet, suitable hydration and light exercise amongst the elderly can make them feel more alert, reduce the number of infections and colds, aid digestion and reduce the need for laxatives. In some cases care home [...]

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