Kitchen crewfeel TV heat

James Given, Valerie Grant and Nicola Vass all work in the kitchens at Broadwood, and all are making regular TV appearances throughout January on STV show The Hour, in its segment New Year, New You, documenting their journey towards a healthier lifestlye. The first went out on Friday.

James said: “I’ve had a bit of a slagging off since that one, with people laughing at our accents. Someone has put up a sign on my office door saying ‘Sir James Givern’ as well.”

James (32), who lives in Seafar, is a former gym fanatic who fell out of the habit since picking up a knee injury. He and his colleagues have all vowed to fix their bad habits and improve their diet.

“Working in a kitchen, you find you are tasting food all day but at the same time you aren’t eating meals at proper times due to your shifts,” said James. “Instead you find yourself snacking a lot and also, when you get home after cooking all day the last thing you want to do is cook. So ordering takeaway became something of a habit.”

A chance meeting between Valerie and an STV crew filming in Kilsyth led to an invitation to Broadwood which the TV crew accepted. James was talked into joining one of three teams of people doing their bit to improve their health and well-being by adhering to New Year resolutions to get into shape.

The teams are also being helped with advice and tips from experts Amanda Hamilton, Stella Bartram and Eadie Manson.

“We’ve been told they could drop by at any time to make sure we’re keeping to our plans,” said James.

“They could give us a phone call with five minutes’ notice!”

New Year, New You will run until January 31.

Your next chance to catch the Cumbernauld team in action is during the episode of The Hour scheduled to be broadcast tomorrow (Thursday).