The Auld Alliance Gourmet Academy is the ambition and dream of restaurateur and chef Lydie Bocquillon whose earliest training in France took a similar form to the course  the AAGA is working toward us offering young people in Scotland. For three years Lydie has been involved with Kingussie High School, sharing her experiences and knowledge with pupils in a hospitality class on a weekly basis. Pupils have been involved in baking, cooking and presenting food in several local events including a Food Extravaganza as part of the Highland Food Festival and Seasonal  Local Food Markets in Kingussie.  

 

In 2007 she got together with three like-minded local businesswomen and together they formed the company known as The Auld Alliance Gourmet Academy. In October 2008 Jenny Radcliffe, one of the founding Directors reluctantly resigned from the Board owing to her move to England. The four current Directors of the company have a shared passion for good food and hospitality and are committed to developing excellence in the Scottish hospitality industry. 

 

Helen Graham of SmallfilmS is a founding Director and has a background in art, music and design and has been making short films since 2003. She has had films screened in cinemas and at film festivals in the UK and Europe and is responsible for the Auld Alliance Gourmet Academy’s film department. She is also a friend of the Food and Film Academy in Italy, helping source and judge films for the International Slow Food on Film Festival.

Paulene Warnock , founding Director, is a former youth worker of over 25 years experience and has spent the last 9 years as an accommodation provider in the hospitality industry, running her own B&B and self-catering business in Kingussie at The Auld Poor House. Her primary role is as Administrator/Co-ordinator to the Academy.  

Roger Crawford  has spent many years with a multinational company as Special Projects Director and is now acting as a Consultant Engineer for the UK and Europe.  Roger is also Chairman of the local Community Business Forum and during the past 10 years he and his wife have run  a successful Bed & Breakfast business Glengarry. He joined the Board of Directors in October 2008 . 

The Academy also has a number of members comprising local business people, councillors, teachers and parents of Kingussie High School pupils. 

The Academy’s prestigious PATRON is Lady Claire MacDonald of Kinloch Lodge on the Isle of Skye. Lady Claire is Scotland’s foremost ambassador for the revitalised traditions of highland hospitality and an award-winning cook and food writer. Her reputation stretches around the globe thanks to a raft of best-selling cookery books, her radio broadcasts, television appearances and a hectic international travel schedule. She lectures throughout the English-speaking world, presenting informative and hugely entertaining cookery demonstrations in North America, Australasia and the British mainland.