Ralph Aldhous
I was always hungry and ate everything. My favourite was cheese and potato pie, though I liked the sausage and mash too. After prep in the new block we sometimes had cocoa with skin on it. I can still taste it...
Rosemary Webb Rehill Nice to hear comments on the food. Dad was very proud of it. Do you remember the metal beakers? I remember scouring out the teacups every summer.... Mrs. Breakwell used to make wonderful pies...Ralph Aldhous I remember the steak and Kidney Pies with puff pastry Ivy Breakwell made. They were in huge (aluminium?) trays and had crunchy bits round the edges. I'm sure I remember matron behind the counter in her green (or blue) uniform with her ginger tom cat on her shoulder feeding it the good bits. We had porridge every morning. It was sometimes a bit lumpy. There was mixed grill and bread and damson jam that came in metal drums. Dinner and tea were fairly varied, but there was always a good pudding with custard. I think we had cereals in summer, and I remember that one day shortly after he started as head, Scotty asked if we had 'conflics' at breakfast. Someone thought he had said 'conflicts' and a surreal conversation ensued before anyone realised he meant 'Cornflakes'. YES. In the evening after prep with the cocoa, there were dead fly biscuits,
Ralph Aldhous You were a happy boy indeed if you could get a packed lunch from the kitchen and go out all day on Saturday.
Ralph Aldhous Towards the end when things were changing, Scotty had these conversations with the boys. I think he was trying to work out how to reform / modernise the school. He meant well, but they always made me personally feel uncomfortable. I wasn't sure where it was going. I didn't want to talk to him about conflicts or cornflakes. No-one had asked about it before and I was suspicious that he was going to start poking round and upsetting things.
Paul Rees And making frothy coffee by beating the daylights out of the cup before adding water at the end of the meal?
Trev Teasdel My dad bought me a battery operated whisk for the frothy coffee - it did it really quickly so everyone on the table borrowed it!
Mick Gajic my favourite dinner was also the cheese and potato mash,we kept going up for second's, third's, etc, it was nice.
Trev Teasdel Mmmm - Cheese and potato pie..
Ralph Aldhous Frothy coffee!!!! How could I have forgotten! Coffee, sugar, just a spot of milk and beat it up til it turns frothy before adding water. we should have patented it.
Ralph Aldhous I don't remember metal beakers. I think we had white stoneware cups, saucers and plates etc.
Texas Dave McGarry Frothy coffee had to be done under the table..
Hamish Wilson Any one remember what was affectionately known as "slops" left over biscuits in a sort of custard. I remember Mr Parkers catch phrase if there was anything left over "It's all guid fud"
Ralph Aldhous Yes!!. And I liked slops.
Paul Norman I liked 'bone stew'
Sarah Williams What?
Rosemary Webb Rehill Oh Lordy Sarah, do you not remember dad's famous bone stew? It was supposed to be Lancashire hotpot!!
Sarah Williams No - I just thought that Paul had been to too many Halloween events.
Lauri Lindsay Still say the fried bread was the best ever. Going to get the fry pan out !!!!!
Robin Hemer
I remember bone stew. That grey gloop with bits of meat and loads of gristle and bone. Remember when one lunch we all just sat there in silence and refused to eat it. The Head was very embarrassed about it and talked about 'gud fud' so was probably Parker. I think he spoke to the Head Prefect after about it. If I remember we never had it again. My favourite was Cheese and Potato mash, I still enjoy it now, my wife makes an excellent version gorgeous on thick buttered farmhouse bread
Ralph Aldhous
At mealtimes we said grace: 'For what we are about to receive my the Lord make us truly thankful' after a minute or so there were two bells to talk and one bell for silence at the end of the meal. Staff sat at a long table near the door.
Paul Rees I lost prefectship because I said, for what we are about to receive may the pigs be truly grateful, Amen.!!!
Paul Norman Apart from Sundays when the staff ate after the pupils had finished. That gave us the opportunity to nip to the Glen for a post prandial fag!
I remember bone stew. That grey gloop with bits of meat and loads of gristle and bone. Remember when one lunch we all just sat there in silence and refused to eat it. The Head was very embarrassed about it and talked about 'gud fud' so was probably Parker. I think he spoke to the Head Prefect after about it. If I remember we never had it again. My favourite was Cheese and Potato mash, I still enjoy it now, my wife makes an excellent version gorgeous on thick buttered farmhouse bread.
ReplyDeleteI recall some of the food was ok - some was mediocre, some downright cr*p - some boarders will recall that there were loose floorboards which if you just couldn't stomach the food you may get lucky and lift the floorboards and tip it down to the ground below, bet the rats had a feast some days. Plus, I recall the bread being brought out in dustbins from the kitchens - you were allowed as much bread and butter as you liked but only two spreads, as they were called ie jam etc. Most weeks we had savoury hash which was a real downer for most but ironically I liked it ! - what that says about my culinary tastes I know not !!
ReplyDeleteSigned "The Original M28"
Most of the "eat yur fud" as Parker would say was good, because you was always bloody hungery. The best for me was when I became head of table to 1st years. I remenber looking into one of the bins behind the kitchens a day after cottage/sheppards pie to find it half full of dog food cans.PAL was the brand Prolongs Active Live, large size they were.Lech M36
ReplyDeleteThe food, the canteen, the seven ages of man painted on the end wall I particularly remember the skeleton an apt image for the canteen. Three times a day we would file into the canteen being arranged in house order Mortimer were seated alongside the painted end. The food varied in quality depending on the day, there was a rota regarding meals, fish on Friday, salads on Sunday etc.
ReplyDeleteEach table had to wait until they were given the order to collect their food.
Memories of Jacket potatoes with cheese fillers, lumpy custard but some great homemade pies consisting of apple, blackcurrant or rhubarb. Meatballs covered with a glutinous skin which I could never entertain as a possible means of nourishment. There were some genuinely good meals while others were just fillers. Bread and jam was the main means of sustenance should any meal fail to deliver. Supper usually consisted of milky chocolate/cocoa in aluminum pots with lots of dry biscuits which I would grab in handfuls.
Meals were also supplemented by food parcels which would be delivered by the red cross aka your parents.
The alternative solution was to raid the staffroom from about 11pm onwards otherwise you were likely to encounter a member of staff if you attempted any earlier. A few morsels of cheese and bread or a bowel of cereal would counter any hunger pains.
Happy days.
Cheese and potato mash, was my favourite, especially after cross country. 1958 to 1962. Stephen Donald
ReplyDelete