Notes from the Food and Beverage Services Manager

Well what a year. To say this year has been tough is an understatement, with Covid hitting the country hard, the University and College still had to be there for our students. Hatfield well and truly lived up to the saying All One Hatfield.

Who would have thought our Lion In Winter Ball (LIWB) on 6 March 2020 would have been the last event we hosted for a long time. Nevertheless, our Head Chef and his brigade managed to wow 300 guests with a mouth-watering menu. With Epiphany Term over and done with we had to move into swift action as Hatfield was used to support University Durham Hospital with critical care workers. Our catering team (myself included) threw on our PPE, packed up every single bedroom in Hatfield and moved student belongings into storage to free up our rooms. The commitment by all the team to helping during this tough period was second-to-none.

With teaching all online during Easter Term, the College had a dormant period when the dining hall stood still and the fridges and freezers in the kitchen stood empty as our catering team was placed onto the government’s furlough scheme. Fast-forward to Michaelmas Term 2020 with a whole new approach to College catering… Students grouped into households, with one-way systems, glass screens in the servery and framed dividers sectioning off tables. The servery and dining hall did look a whole lot different. On the plus side, our catering team and café/bar team were allowed to resume their duties in College. A different start to the term with no traditional Freshers’ Week, but a week of planned socially distanced events in our bar, which our students still managed to make the most of. Formals were allowed to recommence, in a slightly different format due to social distancing, but we still managed to pull it off and keep it as “normal” as possible to give our freshers a “proper” Hatfield welcome.

...our Head Chef and his brigade managed to wow 300 guests with a mouthwatering menu.

Hatfield Dining Hall with safety screens, one-way system and washable chairs

Michaelmas Term was a tough one even with no major events planned. The College was placed into lockdown and our catering operation had to move swiftly as all 300+ living in students still had to be fed their three meals per day. This is when Hatfield meals on wheels was born. With help from our dedicated living out students, we managed to deliver over 5000 meals per week. With Christmas fast approaching, we weren’t going to let Covid put a dampener on our celebrations. Since we couldn’t put on our traditional Christmas formals our students put on their Christmas jumpers and headed down to the dining hall in households for a Christmas dinner Covidstyle. After a very hard first term, our students thoroughly enjoyed themselves and even pulled a Christmas cracker or two.

Breakfast at the Hatfield Servery

Epiphany Term 2021 started with pretty much more of what 2020 brought us. The main focus was to get through the term as safely as possible. Due to restrictions, our bar remained closed, but our café managed to stay open and provide a comfortable environment for students to come and study in during the day. With the cancellation of formals, it was business as usual in the dining hall and the cheery catering team were always there providing as much normality for our students as possible.

Will Green