A brief History of the Chefs of Mayo
October 1994 Mrs Anne Geary owner of Pontoon Bridge Hotel asked some local chefs to meet with the idea of forming a Chefs club in county Mayo, There were six chefs present at that initial meeting and out of it was born the Chefs of Mayo Club.The six chefs made contact with several other chefs working in County Mayo and by February 1995 the Inaugural AGM was held in the Welcome Inn hotel in Castlebar. This meeting was well attended and many chefs joined up. The guest speaker at the Launch of the Chefs of Mayo was the then Minister for Trade Tourism Mr Enda Kenny TD.
Denis Lenihan {executive Chef at Ashford Castle} elected as first Chairman and during his time in office the club was set on a firm footing. Chocolate seminars and a food show were organised. The food show was a showcase of all the finest produce manufactured and produced locally and was held in the Travellers friend hotel in Castlebar.
In 1996 Seamus O’Doherty {Executive head chef at the Welcome Inn Hotel in Castlebar} took over as chairman and while Seamus was in office the club started the Taste of Mayo fundraisers and appointed Joe McHugh as Newsletter co-ordinator to compile a club newsletter . This newsletter is printed,published and posted to all our members and other catering establishments in County Mayo free of charge. The newsletter iran for 15 years. It was the only magazine of its type in Ireland and still has not been replicated. Many social events were organised including fishing trips, golf outings, Go-Karting ,and darts tournaments.
In 1998 Joe McHugh C.W.C. was elected Chairman and our constitution was compiled and voted into being. Club Trustees were elected and our social and fundraising activities continued . We approached all our local politicians to highlight tax in equities in the catering sector and tried to make our point with the revenue commissioners.
In January 2000 Vincent Conlon {Executive Head Chef with Campbell Catering at Mayo regional Hospital} was elected as chairman he won the Healthy eating Competition at the Salon culinare in Galway in February 2000 and other club member award winners were Tommy O’Boyle and Anthony Kelly.
The Club were nominated for the prestigious Peple of the year awards for their continued fundraining for various local and international charities. Some Chefs cooked on the summit of Chraogh Patrick for charity and Anne Geary was nominated as the first recipient of the Chefs of Mayo Hall of Fame award.
In 2002 Graham Gourley became Chairman of the association and oversaw a very successful charitty event hosted by the Dalton Inn Hotel in Claremorris. Brian Crowley of knock House Hotel was inducted as the second person to the Chefs of Mayo Hall of fame as a recognition of his committment to the growth of Tourism in Mayo.
In 2003 the club published a small cookery book in conjunction with SuperValu Westport. Over 5000 copies of the book were distributed to the public.
In 2004 Gerard Luskin became Chairman and with the helpof other chefs in Ballina he organised a major fundraiser for the Chernobyl Childrens trust. A fabulous night was arranged and Adi Roche of the Chernobyl childrens trust attanded. Thiseffort was greatly aided by the Ballina Lions club. During Gerrys tenure the first Chefs of Mayo cookery competitions were held. A junior seafood competition was our first competition and had a large number of entrants. The competitions were eld in the Wyatt hotel in Westport where Chef Eoin McDonnell was a big help. The Competitions were sponsored by Tuffy'sCash and Carry and through thehelp of John Carney. Senior competitions were also organised and have continued to this date.
In 2007 Seamus O'Doherty returned to the Chair. We held a fund raiser for the Special olympics network in Mayo in conjunction with Campbell Catering. Again it was a huge success and helped raise €17,000. Many members from the club took part in National competitions and scooped several medals . Alan Fitzmaurice, Mickey Hunter and Mark Gallagher all scooped Gold. In the next round of Catex Comeptitions Gerry Luskin and Anthony Kelly went on to achieve great success with Anthony taking the overall chef award.
A competition was arranged in conjunction with Kellys butchers in Newport. This was to be a competition highlighting local black pudding as the main ingredient ina starter dish and it was to be cooked live. Sean Kelly arranged for Bridgestone guide author John McKenna and Good Food Ireland representative and food Journalist Hugo Arnold to be on the judging panel. Ron Morrison of Hotel Westport won the first prize.
In 2008 the club donated €1000 to Alex Heath for his work at an orphanage & school in the Gambia.
In 2009 the Club organised a fundraiser in conjunction with the Mayo Emmirants Liason committee. It raised approximately €13000. First prize was a gourmet tour of Mayo. this is where many fine hosteleries gave dinner for two in their establishments. The winner gets to dine in all of them during the year, Also included was a day in a cookery school and an overnight break in a hotel.
Over all the years we have had a very active social scene with various competitions being held for poker, Darts etc. We have gone visiting the dog track and had many wonderful days fishing on the fabulous Clew Bay. Some times Catching massive amounts of fish and some times feeding the fish in rough seas. We have hosted many cookery demonstrations throughout the county over the years. These were usually for charity fundraisers but some of our members often offer cookery courses.
