(L-R) The runner ups Amanda and Valerie Kirkpatrick, Lisburn (centre) attended James Street South’s Cookery School, Belfast to have their dish cooked by award winning chef and owner and Chef Niall McKenna. Also pictured are Wilma Stewart, Energy Services Development Co-ordinator, Power NI and Siobhan Casey, Director of Marketing & Business Development, Age NI.

The sound of chopping, whisking and searing was heard as the winners and runners up from the Power NI & Age NI ‘Favourite Winter Dish Competition’ attended James Street South’s Cookery School, Belfast to help prepare their winning dishes with local chef Niall McKenna.

Our partnership with Power NI continues to have a significant impact on the lives of many older people in later life, so as it entered its ninth year both Power NI and Age NI wanted to launch a mouth watering and seasonal based Cookery Competition.  Both organisations wanted a strong culinary and social aspect to the online competition. So we decided to ask the great Northern Ireland public just one question: ‘What’s your favourite winter dish?’

Age NI received over 120 online entries through our Facebook page, we simply asked entrants to nominate an older person (60+) who the overall winner would bring along to James Street South Cookery School and share the experience with. The overall winners were Brian Irving and James Barnabas.  Winner Brian was nominated by his friend James who said 'my great friend Brian has always been an inspiration and sounding board in my life.' Their winning dish was lamb cooked with a red wine jus and served on a bed of champ. 

The second winning dish was from Annie MacDowall who was nominated by her friend Nichola Legge who selected their favourite winter dish of fish pie with seasonal vegetables.  Winner Annie was nominated by Nichola of Radius Housing who said, 'she is 92 years young and full of life, no matter what life throws at her she keeps going and never lets things get her down. She is a real inspiration to others, she is very independent and still enjoys cooking and we regularly swap recipes.'

Siobhan Casey, Director of Marketing & Business Development, Age NI said:

‘Our long standing partnership with Power NI demonstrates our joint commitment to support older people here to stay warm and safe in their homes. Whether it’s providing energy efficiency advice, promoting the Customer Care Register or highlighting loneliness, engagement levels are very high. Our recent ‘favourite winter dish competition’ sought to bring generations closer together through food.’

We had a number of runner ups too including Amanda Kirkpatrick who nominated her mother Valerie, David Williams who nominated his wife Linda. They all attended the Cookery School, donned their aprons and got stuck into food preparation; cooking and everyone enjoyed a relaxed social meal together at James Street South.

Wilma Stewart, Energy Services Development Co-ordinator, Power NI said:

‘Power NI is delighted to have been able to sponsor this competition and continue to work in partnership with Age NI to improve the lives of older people through practical help and advice.’

Now in its ninth year the charity partnership forged between Power NI with Age NI continues to grow.  To date hundreds of older people across Northern Ireland have been able to access free, practical support and advice ranging from free home insulation to free boiler checks. Age NI have also assisted older people to sign up to the Power NI Customer Care Register which as part of its service provides a password scheme for customers who are worried about bogus callers.

For more information on Age NI please call our Advice Service on 0808 808 7575 for free, confidential information and advice on staying independent, benefits, care, housing and health. For more information please visit www.ageni.org