Winner Jane Hatton

Lecturer

Brooklands College

Weybridge, Surrey

Hatton says she has always enjoyed sharing her skills as a baker and confectioner and her move into teaching from working full-time in various bakery businesses was a natural progression.

She has now been teaching for 26 years, the last eight at Brooklands College.

Hatton was chosen as the winner because of her passion for training and the industry as a whole. She says: "I love baking and I like to keep industry contacts to ensure I’m providing the right courses for what companies need. We must promote this industry and persuade young people that it offers a good career path."

The judges also cited Hatton’s "perseverance and willingness to go the extra mile for the industry" as making her an inspirational and worthy winner.

Finalist Henry Jefferies

Assessor/Internal Verifier

Hungerford, Berkshire

After completing his training, Jefferies turned his attention to a family business. Opened in 1960, the firm grew from one shop to seven and, by 1998, had an annual turnover of £1.5 million. At this point, Jefferies sold up and moved on to training, with the National Association of Master Bakers, City & Guilds and the SAMB.

Jefferies says he is, above all, a practical baker, always learning, and he hopes his 50 years’ experience means he can offer students a breadth of knowledge vital to the demands of the industry today. "Bakers today must know so much and be able to relate various processes to one another - I think I have the communication skills to help them understand this."

Finalist Julie Kemp

HR Manager

Bells of Lazonby

Penrith, Cumbria

This 60-year-old family business has five shops in and around Cumbria and the north west and serves several wholesale clients, turning over £11 million a year. It also owns the Village Bakery and OK! ’free-from’ brands. Kemp joined as HR manager two years ago and has put in place a programme addressing a raft of requirements, from hands-on bakery training, Skills for Life numeracy and literacy and English skills for the 10% of staff who are migrant workers.

As a result, absence has reduced by over 15% and staff turnover by over 10%. "We have seen a real change in people’s abilities and attitude. We are committed to developing a culture of life-long learning," she says