Congratulations to Johanna Truszczynska, Deputy Head Chef, who recently celebrated 40 years of service in the Robinson College kitchens.  

My Robinson by Johanna Truszczynska

I was lucky enough to come to Robinson College in the winter of 1985 for my work experience from Catering college and worked under the watchful eye of ‘Chef de Partie’ Gary Dougan for a month. I had a fantastic time and everyone was so kind to me. When I left college in the summer, I wanted to work at Robinson but there was no vacancies in the kitchen so I started to work elsewhere. One evening, a month later, I had a knock at my front door and it was one of the electricians from Robinson, who I knew, saying that the head chef had a vacancy and was looking for me to see if I wanted to apply! I started work on 29 July 1985 as vegetable chef.

Over the next few years, I worked my way to become a chef de partie (head of a section). Then in 1990 Gary became Head Chef and I was made Deputy Head Chef.

Robinson is my ‘other’ family, we all work as a team, helping each other and working together to produce excellent dishes in a kitchen that is fun, vibrant and a pleasure to work in.

I had my Wedding to Norbert Truszczynska (who works in the Development Office) in 1996, which was so wonderful and the wedding breakfast was at Robinson, the team produced the most fantastic celebration.

Alice, our daughter was born in 2000 and she has worked in the catering department too. In October 2023 when I was diagnosed with cancer, the wonderful people here gave me the strength to get through the dark days of chemo and I will be forever grateful for that and their support was completely invaluable.

Gary has always been a great Head Chef and I feel I am so fortunate to have found the best kitchen to work in and 40 years on, I always look forward to coming to work.

Gary Dougan, Head Chef and Head of Catering Services said "For 4 decades Jo has been a cornerstone of our success at Robinson College, such remarkable dedication, commitment and loyalty."

A huge thanks to Jo from everyone at Robinson for all your hard work and for always brining warmth and a wonderful smile to College.