FORMER Army medic Giles Farrington has been mentored by a Michelin-starred chef to help turn his hand to cookery. He speaks to health reporter Kate Liptrot.

WHILE he was in the Army, Giles Farrington served in war zones including the Gulf, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

He helped sick and injured comrades by working in the operating theatre for the Royal Army Medical Corps - an incredibly highly pressured job - but it wasn't until years after he left the Army that he began to be haunted by what he had seen.

Struggling with bad dreams and a low mood, he was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or, as he describes it, ‘survivor’s guilt’.

"I left the Army as I had a young family and things were starting to get busier," he said, "I could see the chances were I would be going away every year.

"It was about 2011 I started feeling depression and things like that. If you look at PTSD, especially in health care workers, it takes a while to rear itself."

Now 42, and living in Strensall with his wife and son, near to the barracks where he was once stationed, Giles works as a senior operating department practitioner at York Hospital.

It was at the hospital where his new passion for cooking was started after meeting former intensive-care nurse and 2011 Masterchef finalist Sara Danesin. Knowing that Giles was a keen photographer, she asked him to take some photos of her food and portraits of herself in the kitchen. Some ended up in Sainsbury’s magazine, and the success gave Giles a new interest.

With the support of the charity Help for Heroes - and its Band of Brothers network for service men and women to have suffered illness attributable to service - Giles was was invited to spend a day training with Stephen Bulmer at the award-winning Swinton Park Hotel near Ripon.

There he learned how to make delicious dishes including stuffed calamari, pork loin and chocolate tart.

He than spent a day training at the Yorke Arms near Pateley Bridge with its co-owner Frances Atkins. A fellow of the Masterchefs of Great Britain, Frances is one of only six female Michelin starred chefs in the UK.

She taught Giles how to create a dish using game - teaching him how to create pheasant sausage, stuffed pheasant breast and pheasant mousse and an apple juice and white wine reduction. He later dined in the restaurant, sampling the food.

The next day Giles had to reproduce the dish in competition against fellow former and still serving soldiers in a cook off’ devised by Lady Felicity Cunliffe-Lister of Swinton Park luxury castle hotel and sponsored by Yorkshire Game.

He loved the day at Phoenix House in Catterick which was intended inspire the men to consider catering as a future new career.

While Giles is going to stick with his job at York Hospital he will carry on cooking as a hobby and has plans to start a food blog.

"I find cooking really relaxing," he said, "but it's the producing things for other people and looking at their reactions that I really like."

He was delighted his 14-year-old son Euan was especially inspired and has been offered a work placement helping Stephen Bulmer, which is a fantastic opportunity, he said.

Mo Usman, Manager of Phoenix House Recovery Centre, said the idea of the competition had really appealed to the wounded, injured and sick.

“The aim of Help for Heroes is to inspire, enable and support individuals to lead active, independent and fulfilling lives. This support comes in many forms – from individual grants to educational and practical courses to sporting activities that improve personal independence, raise morale and recreate the camaraderie that so many of them lose when they leave (temporarily or permanently) the Forces,” he explained

“Vocational visits also play a vital role facilitating their smooth transition to civilian life but Swinton Park has generously taken this to another level completely."

Richard Townsend of Yorkshire Game said the company was thrilled to be sponsoring such a great initiative. “Yorkshire is privileged to have some of the finest game in the country and we are pleased it has been showcased at its best during this competition,” he added.