The Chronicle, Summer 2019

15 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Christopher Cornwell

Ashleigh Eaton What do you do at Teddies?

regularly attend courses in new food trends, and many have progressed from working in the plate wash area to having completed their NVQ Level 3 as a chef. What are you looking forward to about the facilities in the new Quad Development? Working on the design for the new Sixth Form Common Room, Cooper’s, was really enjoyable and the space has been a great success. We’re really looking forward to launching another new catering area where we can continue to extend the range of food choices for our pupils (see page 7). What sort of events do you manage? I’m very involved in the operational organisation of events such Open Day and Gaudy. During Gaudy Week, we send a team to Henley Royal Regatta for our famous lunch and tea events in the Cricket Club to which former pupils beat a path every year in search of Head Chef Ralph’s monkfish and rosemary kebabs. What do you like about working at Teddies? It’s such a beautiful place – and I love seeing the pupils develop throughout their time with us. There’s always something new to get involved in. We provided catering at Blenheim Triathlon this year to support the staff and OSE teams, and we served canapés on the building site for the recent Rock on the Roof event (see page 5). In the past, we’ve organised a dinner on The North Wall stage and another in The Ogston Music School. And a new addition to our calendar is the Steeplechase Tea hosted by the Friends of St Edward’s, which is always a really lovely afternoon involving the whole school. We also play our part in the local community by providing 120 lunches daily to our neighbours at Northern House, a primary school for children with emotional and learning difficulties (see page 13). We cook Christmas lunch for them every year which the pupils enjoy in the Teddies Dining Hall – always a very lovely occasion. Who is your favourite cook? Rick Stein.

I’m the Domestic Bursar which means that I oversee the Catering Department, Domestic Services and Lettings, the international summer schools we host during the Easter and summer holidays. How long have you been here and what did you do before? I’ve been at Teddies for 10 years. Before that, I ran catering facilities at heritage sites such as the Ashmolean and Stonehenge. Tell us a bit more about running a catering operation for a largely teenage community. Food is incredibly important to our pupils of course! In keeping with wider food trends, we’ve increased the range of salads available and we’ve also introduced a tasty range of lighter options on the deli bar. We’re always looking to broaden our pupils’ tastes too. Some of the newer additions to the menu are among our most popular: prawn curry and salmon niçoise, for instance. We cater daily for a range of different nutritional needs – from elite athletes who need protein and carbs, to Shells who crave the familiar. We also make provision for a variety of special diets including gluten-free, vegan, Halal and dairy-free. We play our part in safeguarding too – my staff can be the first to notice that a pupil isn’t eating properly. We are wired into the pastoral network Beyond the pupils, you run a varied operation – what else do you cover? On top of the regular 2,000 meals a day for the school community, we also enjoy providing food for a whole host of events including House dinners, fundraising balls, sports teas, canapé receptions, fine dining and the occasional wedding for OSE. Does the fact that you’re in a school make a difference to the catering operation? It does in the sense that education is everywhere and we believe in educating and developing our teams. Our chefs