A GUISELEY chef has enjoyed reaching the final of a national competition.

James Trewartha made it through to the ultimate stage of the Busy Bees' ABC Chef contest by impressing the judges with an allergen-free Thai-style beef with rice noodles dish.

The competition was held during Allergen Awareness Week and challenged nursery chefs from across the country to produce delicious, nutritious meals completely free from 14 named allergens.

Although Mr Trewartha, who is nursery chef at Busy Bees in Guiseley, didn't win, he and the other ten finalists all received a £20 voucher and a chef's apron for their efforts.

And the company is planning to compile all of the finalists' dishes into a recipe book, so parents can recreate the dishes at home.

Mr Trewartha said: "I really enjoyed the competition and will definitely be taking part again next year!

"We all regularly cater for children with certain food tolerances in the nursery, but it was a real challenge to come up with creative ways to produce the familiar flavours or textures of a dish without using some of the key ingredients.

"The children had a lot of fun helping me come up with ideas, so I’m really pleased they will soon be able to take the recipes home and share them with their parents."