Fife hotel & holiday park awards honour outstanding employees

Pettycur Bay Holiday Park and the Bay Hotel in Kinghorn, and its sister business, The Old Manor Hotel at Lundin Links - both owned by the Wallace family since 2021 – made the presentations recently.

At Pettycur, the overall employee of the year was senior supervisor, Amy McKinnon, whilst chef, Michael Schembri, was given an outstanding achievement award. At the Old Manor Hotel, head receptionist, Christina Kennedy, received the outstanding achievement award.

Amy, 23, originally from Burntisland, and now living in Kirkcaldy, has worked at Pettycur Bay since she was 16. She said: “In the seven years I have been working here, I’ve really grown in confidence. When I was 16 and starting out, I was incredibly anxious and speaking to people was hard for me. My twin sister Charly also works here, and is a much more outgoing and confident person, so I learned to be more confident from her, plus the supportive team around me at Pettycur were with me every step of the way.”

Amy also commented on what she called “the social aspect of working at Pettycur Bay – it’s been pretty memorable. You make a lot of lifelong friends through working in hospitality, due to the long hours and stress. It’s something you bond over, and nights out definitely help with the process.”

Michael, who is of Maltese descent and lives in Burntisland, first worked at Pettycur Bay as a chef in 1998, staying until 2007. He returned to the job in 2015, and, now, aged 70 still very much enjoys cooking and being in a busy professional kitchen.

He said: “I love everything about cooking, but am especially happy on the sauce section. My favourite dishes on the Horizons menu are the lasagne and the steak pie. Horizons is very much the type of restaurant I like to go out to eat in myself – the food is excellent, but the whole experience is not over the top, which is a turn off for me.”

Christina Kennedy, known as Tina, will have been at the Old Manor Hotel for three years this May, having previously worked at a number of Fife’s best known hotels, including The Craws Nest Hotel, Cambo House, and Rufflets in St Andrews. Originally from Leven, she moved to Anstruther in 1982.

“I love everything about my job, every day is different and you meet so many nice people. I still keep in touch with people that I met 15 years ago through work,” she said. “When guests mention you by name in a review, it’s always a real boost, or just when they say thank you.”

Tommy Wallace, director, said: “A huge well done to Amy, Michael and Christina. All three of them are absolutely fantastic, hard-working employees that we are delighted to have in our team. “