May Ball Review

(Words by Bill Brogan)

The May Ball this year was a special May Ball as the College is celebrating its 500th Anniversary.

The theme of the May Ball was Famous St John’s College Alumni.

We were catering for 2100 plus a legion of helpers.

Regular meetings had taken place with the May Ball Committee since Christmas 2010, about the provision of food and drink.

Sarah Bridges from the Catering and Conference Office worked very hard on organising the event.  The event took a lot of planning and communication.  The catering staff from St John’s College worked very hard and did very well on the event for the College.  All the teams worked well together along with 3 of the culinary team from Kendal College, who drove down on the Tuesday to work with the catering team.

We held a dinner for 120 in the Combination Room with a Pol Roger Champagne Reception at 19:30.  This comprised of a Trio of Seafood (starter), Citrus and Pepper Sorbet, Venison (Main), Trio of Desserts which featured  around 3 Chocolate bars and finished with Artisan British Cheeses.  Also in the Combination Room we held a sit down champagne breakfast at 03:30, whilst breakfast was served at 02:00 in the Wordsworth Room for the exclusive 1888 Club, for those that paid extra and included the Alumni.

The actual Ball opened at 21:00 and finished at 07:00.

Breakfast was served out in the courts from 04:00.

The scale of catering was very large, with the chefs producing all the food, which included:

480 canapes for fast track entry at 20:00
1800 strawberries and Champagne on the Backs
2500 Hog Roast
2000 portions of Artisan cheeses from the Cheese Detective – 3 types plus chutneys, olives
2000 portions of Punjab Chicken
2000 portions of Lamb Dopiaza
2000 portions of Aubergine and Lentil Curry
2000 portions Lassi – mango flavoured
2700 portions of Battered Fish and Chips
3000 Pizza Slices – 3 different types.  They queued from 21:00 until 05:10 at this stall.
2500 Roast Beef in Yorkshire Puddings plus vegetarian version
A Fruit Mountain set up by the Kitchen of Small Summer Fruits
1500 Pain au Chocolat
1500 Portions Puddings – Treacle Sponge and Custard and Eton Mess
1000 Portions of 3 Ice Cream made by the Pastry Chefs
Small Cakes, Soup, Chocolate Truffles in the 1888 Club along with Pol Roger Vintage 2000, Chene Bleu Wine – voted best wine in France, it included the Viognier which is on our wine list and has just been released on in the UK.
2300 Breakfast Baps
1800 Gluten Free Crepes and Waffles – made by the Kitchen

There was comedy, Music from Big Boi and Chipmunk, Alwen Clayton and Friends and very spectacular, fireworks to music at 22:30 which did receive great reviews in the local press, a massage parlour, Pimms Bar, Moos Milk Shakes, Pick ‘n’ Mix, Absolut Vodka and Red Bull, 1st Class Teas and Irish Coffee.

The weather was warm all night.

An experience that one should fit into their busy life schedule.