BUDDING chefs put their skills to the test in a nationwide competition.

Hundreds of students from schools in Waltham Forest, Redbridge, and Epping Forest, entered the contest and 22 young chefs were selected from 11 schools to take part in the district's semi-final at Beal High School, Clayhall.

The students worked in pairs to prepare a main course meal.

All the Waltham Forest students performed well, but the young cooks who most impressed the Waltham Forest College judges Peter Stone, operations manager, and Philip Wright, chef lecturer, were sisters Rhiannon and Sian Davies, from Valentines High School, Ilford.

The girls were awarded certificates and professional cookery books, and will go to the Rotary Young Chef district final on April 28 along with first runners-up Harry Watson and Paul Kounis, of Beal High School.

Both teams have the chance of competing in the grand final with their counterparts from all over the country.

Carrol Nathanson, chairwoman of the youth committee for Redbridge Rotary, organised the competition locally.

She said: "Although we had 11 schools competing it does not really represent the amount of interest we had, because one school had 70 children taking part in the preliminaries, and there were hundreds of children competing.

"It encourages children to appreciate healthy food and healthy cooking, to work as a team, to exercise discipline and control, and generally to improve their skills. They enjoy it immensely. "