A Blaina woman who once prepared silver service lunches for Welsh Assembly members and visiting dignitaries is line for a prestigious award.

Residents at a Merthyr Tydfil care home may not realise that they are now the VIPs benefitting from the work of Paula Lewis.

After a varied and colourful career in catering and hospitality, 60-year-old Paula is now Hospitalities Services Manager at Hallmark Greenhill Manor Luxury Care Home, which is part of the Hallmark Luxury Care Homes group.

She has been nominated for one of this year’s Wales Care Awards organised by Care Forum Wales to recognise exceptional work in the care sector.

The presentation ceremony, sponsored by Ontex Healthcare, is being held at Cardiff’s Holland House Hotel on October 18 and will be hosted by radio and TV presenter Jason Mohammad.

Before moving to Greenhill Manor last year, Paula worked at Hallmark Regency House Luxury Care Home in Ely, Cardiff, and it was her work there which prompted Christine Ivins, the company’s Customer Relationship Manager, to nominate her.

She has been shortlisted in the category for Promoting Fulfilled Lives, which is sponsored by Boots Healthcare.

She has worked in the field all her life, initially running pubs with her first husband, but when her marriage broke down and three children to care for, she joined an agency.

She worked in many commercial kitchens including the Tesco store in Magor before getting a job at the National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff – as a dishwasher.

When her talents became known, she was very soon promoted to Head of Hospitality, which involved organising lunches for dignitaries, buffets for up to 200 guests and tailoring functions for the individual needs of AMs.

She then left to manage hotels including the Express by Holiday Inn in both Pontypool and Bridgend before joining Hallmark, being responsible for kitchen and housekeeping teams.

“Paula’s quality of service is in her understanding of the dining experience and of the importance of mealtimes to residents’ wellbeing,” said Christine.

“She regularly meets with the residents and their families in a bid to improve the catering and hospitality in any way she can.”

Citing an example of the care Paula takes to meet the individual needs of the 120 Greenhill residents, Christine said that when the family of one resident commented that they were put off by the amount of food being served she ordered smaller dinner plates.

She also ordered different coloured plates to encourage resident living with dementia to have a more positive mealtime experience. which produced promising results.

Paula said it was important to appreciate the individual needs of residents and praised the support she received from within Hallmark.

“I am always looking for new ways to do things,” she said.

She and her second husband have seven children and 14 grandchildren between them, which takes up most of her spare time, and she also enjoys taking her two dogs for walks.

Mario Kreft MBE, the Chair of Care Forum Wales, said the Wales Care Awards, said: “Our aim is to recognise the unstinting and often remarkable dedication of our unsung heroes and heroines on the front line of social across Wales.

“The care sector is full of wonderful people because it’s not just a job it’s a vocation – these are the people who really do have the X Factor.

“If you don’t recognise the people who do the caring you will never provide the standards that people need and never recognise the value of the people who need the care in society.

“We need to do all we can to raise the profile of the care sector workforce – they deserve to be lauded and applauded.

“It is a pleasure to honour the contribution of all the finalists. Each and every one of them should be very proud of their achievement.”