The Student: Anne Cunningham

Quick Fire

Course? Foundation Term in 2023 and now I have returned to do the Intermediate & Advanced Term in 2025

Best moment? The ‘chef /commis exercise’ where you produce five identical plates of food with a partner chef

Worst moment? Meringue making and the many attempts to get it just right!

Demonstration you’re most looking forward to? Stephen Lamb’s ‘Whole Pig Butchery’ (to reconnect with food production which we don’t really see or connect with living an urban life!)

Teachers? Jane and Mark

Favourite dish? Warm salad of wood pigeon, pancetta and a truffled crispy egg

Diploma student Anne Cunningham retired from her established career in corporate pharmaceutical market research to pursue her ten-year dream to train at Leiths. But, she explains, it’s a dream that has had a couple of false starts.

‘Back in the 2010s, a friend of mine had done the course and I’d been exceedingly jealous.’

‘In 2013, I was made redundant, so I applied, paid the deposit and was all set for coming. It was literally one week before the six-week cut off for the full payment when my partner was made redundant. It was a shock to both of us and I had to forfeit my deposit and not come to Leiths.

‘So, it’s almost like it’s been building up for ten years, this desire to do the Diploma.’

In 2023, Anne’s dream intensified after her brother died suddenly. She realised that ‘you’ve got to do what you want to do in life. Why stay in a career for another five to seven years when I could make it work? And do it in his honour.’

However, at that point, Anne didn’t feel ‘quite brave enough’ to fully leave her career behind.

‘I did the Foundation Term on a sabbatical. I was finding it so fulfilling but the difficulty is if you’re on a three month notice period and decide you want to do the full Diploma you have to hand in your notice on week one of the Foundation Term.’

‘But essentially I thought life’s too short to wait for the money.’

Soon after finishing the Foundation Term, Anne resigned with a plan to return to Leiths after undertaking some work experience.

‘A lot of the work I did during the year was down to Sarah at Leiths List. She put me in touch with Refettorio Felix, with a private caterer and the Social Pantry.’

This brings us up to the present day. Anne joined the 2024/2025 cohort in January beginning with the induction week (designed for students entering the course at the Intermediate stage).

‘That week is an absolute necessity and I commend Leiths on doing it.’

‘For me, it wasn’t necessarily revisiting all the skills, although that was much more useful than I thought it would be. It was that settling in, that bonding, that feeling part of the culture.’ Anne believes finally enrolling on the Diploma is ‘about doing what makes you happy and leading a fulfilled life. It’s that thing of being around people who are super passionate about what they’re doing – I love it.’