Catering Staff Dinner

Date: Friday 12 February 2010

Christmas Dinner in February has become a tradition for the hard-working catering staff at St Edmund's. Providing wonderful Christmas fayre in December for all the school and its staff, the caterers only first get a look-in at their own meal in the Lent term. Perhaps it was because of this year's hard winter and heavy snowfalls, but nobody felt quite like having Christmas all over again, so there were no Santa outfits this time! Steve Owen and his cheerful team of catering staff certainly got into the spirit though, while a varied team of heads and staff from all departments of the school cooked, served, poured drinks, cleared, and washed up.

The menu for the occasion included a choice of starters - pate and melba toast, tomato and basil soup, and melon with parmesan. The choice for the main course was between vegetable lasagne, chicken casserole, lamb shank, and salmon steaks, all served with a selection of vegetables or salad. Delicious desserts were forthcoming from 'several staff all over the place' and dispensed from a masterpiece of kitchen engineering called the Leaning Trolley of Pisa, duly wheeled out for this most special of occasions.

The dinner operation was masterminded by the flamboyant but redoubtable Amanda Selmon, who had little trouble convincing a small army of helpers to go some way towards repaying the catering department for the excellent service they give the school throughout the year.

Photographs copyright Thomas Hooley 2010