Campus Matters newsletter Feb 2014

Feb

‘14

CAMPUS MATTERS Your monthly Campus Services newsletter

Love is in the air……..

It’s February 14th already and time to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Take a look at page 5 for some hints and tips from Hub Head Chef, Carol Vallejo on how to rustle up a tasty treat to enjoy over a romantic dinner.

And don’t worry if you’ve left it until the last minute to buy something for your other half – there’s still time to pop down to The Store on Campus and pick up a bottle of wine and 200g bar of chocolate for just £6.49!

I know many of you are suffering challenging times due to the severe flood warnings in place across the local area, with the

resulting pressure on local infrastructure including roads and public transport. The College has put together guidance and advice for staff and students to be prepared for the adverse weather conditions.

finding out more about how Campus Services is participating in the RHUL food recycling programme.

All the latest information about any disruption can be found here http://www.rhul.ac.uk/iquad/ severeweatheralertandinformatio n.aspx or alternatively follow on Twitter @RoyalHolloway. Both pages are being up-dated regularly throughout the day.

Enjoy the read!

Food is definitely flavour of the month in this issue as we learn a thing or two about food hygiene from Environmental Supervisor, Michelle Anderson, as well as

Daren

Daren Bezants, Head of Maintenance Services

SAFE AND SECURE

LOVE YOUR CAMPUS

SWEETHEART SANDWICH

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PAGE 5

Feb

‘14

SAFE AND SECURE David Paterson, our new Security Manager, has responsibility for providing security to students, staff and visitors across campus. This involves providing access control, monitoring CCTV, giving crime prevention advice, responding to incidents and data protection requests and controlling the flow of traffic and parking. The team operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for our protection. Campus Matters caught up with David to find out more about his role….

CM: “What objectives do you have in your “can do” attitude, which translates back into delivering a fantastic student experience”. role?”

DP: “My main objective is to review the current security strategy and ensure it fits in with the College’s strategic plan. That involves looking at the current infrastructure and how security is delivered across campus with a view to identifying areas where it could be improved. In the next few weeks we will be asking both staff and students to take part in some surveys to see what feedback our customers give us that we can turn into action plans for improvement”.

CM: “What attracted you to the role here?”

CM: “What did you do before you joined the College?”

DP: “I worked for the Metropolitan Police for 30 years before I came here”.

CM: “Finally, can you finish this sentence?

Not many people know this about me but…”

DP: “…..I have a sense of humour! On a more serious note, I also recently gained an MSc in Risk Management from the University of Leicester and won the prize for the best dissertation in 2013”.

CP: “My daughter Louise was a student at Royal Holloway, graduating last year with a first in Psychology. I think that’s definitely one of the reasons I was attracted to the role here – as a parent, I was particularly conscious of the security on campus”.

CM: “What’s the best bit about your job here?”

DP: “The best bit so far has been meeting so many friendly people, both staff and students. The people here have a very positive attitude, are helpful and clearly enjoy their jobs. Everyone has a

David Paterson, Security Manager

After two successful gardening projects carried out in the Autumn, the next gardening challenge for the Love Your Campus team was to improve the appearance of the entrance at Kingswood Hall.

The weather on the first day was inclement (to put it mildly), but undeterred by lots of rain and even more mud, our seventeen volunteers braved the elements and rolled up their sleeves to clear overgrown plants and mulch the car park at Kingswood.

Is that a ray of sunshine….?

Getting stuck in, despite the rain….

Since Start of Session 140 people have volunteered their time, contributing a total of 340 hours to the LYC project. This is a huge effort which certainly isn’t going un-noticed.

Their efforts paid off and everyone was rewarded Senior Gardner Jo Roberts said, “The students are with beautiful sunshine on the second day. really making a difference to our Campus, not only by helping on our gardening projects, but also with Particular thanks should go to the Men’s Rugby the weekly litter picking. They are of invaluable team and the Kingswood Committee, who between help to the gardening team”. them contributed a total of 40 hours to the project.

Kasia Kacprzak, who leads the LYC initiative added “It’s been particularly encouraging to see so many people volunteering their time when the weather has been so poor. It would be great to get a few more members of staff to come and help out too. So far only 3 have offered to help – come on guys, we can do better than that!”

For more information about how you can get involved, please visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/ Loveyourcampus/ or email us at loveyourcampus@rhul.ac.uk.

Enjoying mud off the rugby pitch...

Feb

‘14

FAIR IS FAIR

With Fairtrade fortnight fast approaching, make sure you know how you can support producers in the developing world sell their produce for better prices, have decent working conditions and fair terms of trade.

Royal Holloway was awarded Fairtrade status in December 2005, showing our commitment to supporting the cause. We constantly try to sell and procure as many Fairtrade products as we can; all tea and coffee on campus is Fairtrade and in The Store, we sell a variety of Fairtrade products including cakes, chocolate, sugar, juices and a wide range of clothing.

Help us to support this great cause by making the most of some of our great Fairtrade promotions available on Campus from 24th February 7th March inclusive. Offers include a Fairtrade tea trolley which will travel around campus every day giving away free cups of tea and free Fairtrade fruit for all sports teams on 26th February and 5th March.

WELCOME TO...

Several new colleagues have joined Campus Services recently and we wish them all well.

Liz Plant and Karen Riches have recently joined as Assistant Managers in The Hub and Founder’s Dining Hall respectively.

CAKE RAFFLE The run up to Valentine’s Day, saw this delicious cake up for grabs in Coffee and Cake in a special Valentine’s Raffle.

Natalie Rangel and Eva Knowlden have joined the Customer Services Team. Team Leader Natalie is based across all receptions and you’ll see Customer Services Assistant, Eva based at Founder’s reception.

Liz Plant

Karen Riches

Natalie Rangel

Eva Knowlden

Many thanks to all those who supported the raffle, which helped to raise much needed extra funds for The British Heart Foundation.

FOOD HYGIENE - FACT OR FICTION? Environmental Health Supervisor, Michelle Anderson, sets the record straight on food hygiene.

Raw meat and poultry should You can tell if food is safe to be washed before preparation eat by looking or smelling it…. and cooking…….

Changes in smell and colour are Washing raw meat does not im- indeed indicators that food has prove safety in any way – in fact spoiled, but the pathogens that it creates a potential hazard, by cause illness do not affect smell, spreading micro-biological con- look or even taste. tamination to other areas such as sinks, taps and work surfaces. Reheating cooked food can It also increases the risk of cross cause food poisoning…..

-contamination by hands. Raw meat and poultry are likely to be It is always safest to prepare and contaminated with Campylobac- cook food fresh but if it must be ter or E.coli, both of which can cooked and cooled the following cause illness if small numbers or rules apply: organisms are eaten. To make raw meat and poultry safe to eat - food must be cooked or it needs to be cooked, which will reheated to 75°C for 15 seconds reduce bacteria to safe levels. (to reduce germs to safe levels);

- it should then be cooled within 90 minutes (preventing germination of spores); - and finally stored in the fridge or freezer (to minimise bacterial growth).

To cool food quickly, a blast chiller is recommended, but for some foods such as rice, cold running water will be just as effective.

Applying these rules to all high risk foods will keep the germs at bay!

Michelle Anderson, Environ -mental Health Supervisor

SWEETHEART SANDWICH Need some inspiration for the perfect end to a Valentine’s meal? Look no further than this delicious Sweetheart Chocolate and Hazelnut sandwich, shared by Hub Head Chef, Carol Vallejo.

Ingredients 4 slices of brioche bread 3 tbsp chocolate & hazelnut spread 1 free range egg 75 ml. whole milk 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 tbsp caster sugar 2 tbsp chopped toasted hazelnuts 1 tbsp butter icing sugar (for dusting) Method 1. Thickly spread 2 of the brioche slices with the chocolate and hazelnut spread then top with the remaining 2 slices to make sandwiches.

2. Use a large heart shaped cutter (or make a card template) to cut them into heart shapes.

3. Whisk together the egg, milk, vanilla extract and caster sugar in a shallow bowl and tip the chopped hazelnuts onto a plate.

4. Dip the sandwiches into the egg mixture and leave to soak for 1 minute on each side, then dip each side of the sandwich into the hazelnuts.

5. Melt the butter in a frying pan. When it starts to sizzle and foam, add the sandwiches and cook each side for 1-2 minutes or until golden brown.

6. Dust with icing sugar and serve as a dessert with raspberries and vanilla ice cream.

FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD! With the College aiming to send 0% of our waste to landfill by April 2014, our catering outlets and Store on Campus explain what they have been doing to help achieve this recycling goal.

Feb

‘14

Four times a week at the end of the working day, the RHUL Food Recycling Programme visits Campus to collect any food that can no longer be used.

The Store started working with the scheme last November and typically, donate items from the bakery as well as chilled food such as sandwiches and Ready Meals. The donated food is then taken to Shelters and food banks for it to be made available to those in need.

Catering Outlets Manager, Rebecca Nurse said “Although we have always tried to keep food waste to a minimum, it’s difficult to avoid altogether. It’s great to know that the food that we are no longer able to use on Campus is being put to good use elsewhere”.

Congratulations to…..

Assistant Catering Manager Sharon Vargo-McLaughlin and Gavin on the birth of their daughter Lia Christina. Lia arrived on 4th February weighing a healthy 9lb 3oz and both mum and baby are doing well. ….

Congratulations also to Sports Duty Manager, Victor Rodrigues and his beautiful bride Sarah who tied the knot in North Carolina last month.

AND FINALLY... …. we hope you enjoy reading Campus Matters every month.

If you have any stories, ideas or photographs that you would like included in a future issue of the newsletter, or any feedback on what you would like to see featured, please email Carol Robinson: carol.robinson@rhul.ac.uk.