Watching the closing ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealthgames2022 Games the other night with Ozzy Osbourne, UB40 and Dexys Midnight Runners, brought back fond and vivid memories of when I worked at the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games exactly 36 years ago!
Literally two days after
graduating from Napier University, I joined students and lecturers from the
Napier University Hospitality Department in providing the catering operations
in the Food Hall of the Athlete’s Village at the 1986 Commonwealth Games. We drew
the short straw – the 6am – 2pm shift! We fed and watered breakfast and lunch
to the 1,660 competitors who were based in Pollock Halls and other nearby
accommodation, the volunteers and the emergency, security and transport
services.
My work placement at university
encompassed contract catering and five star hotels, followed by a holiday
season in a restaurant on a campsite in France. Weekends during term time
involved banqueting shifts at The Caledonian and Grosvenor Hotels which were an
extension of my social life with my fellow students. I felt I already had quite
a lot of experience in the industry, but working on an event of this magnitude
was an opportunity too good to miss – and it certainly turned out to be just
that!
The village mobilised a couple of
weeks before the games opened, and we spent the first week gearing up, setting
up systems and customer journeys while learning about global foods, portion
control, customer service, and getting to grips with the politics between front
of house and the kitchen.
The sheer scale of daily food,
beverage and disposable orders arriving was impossible to comprehend, the top
commodities being bacon, 20 litre drums of oil, chicken breasts, haddock,
butter, and a daily plantation of bananas!
The range available for breakfast
and lunch blew me away, with menu choices from all over the world. Onion bhajis
and pakoras, pasta, eggs, rice, grilled meats, bread, yoghurt, exotic fruits
and vegetables, cereal and traditional breakfast disappeared at a rate of knots
from 6.30am. Our Food Hall team were paired at food stations - we were friendly
faces for the athletes, standing straight (no leaning!) throughout our shift,
and keeping the counters topped up by alerting the Operations Manager every
time we replaced a tray from the hot cupboard below. I can’t remember her name,
but I do remember she was super organised, had a great rapport with the
kitchen, and worked hard to make a team out of us and make it really fun. We
were instructed to control portion sizes, but found we were fighting a losing
battle with the gigantic weightlifters in the war of two link sausages versus
six!
To pass the time we tried to
guess who played what sport by what they looked like and what they ate! I
became pretty good at it.
Highlights of the event were the
day that Prince Charles and Princess Diana toured the food hall, and the whole
place was awash with police and sniffer dogs who were going berserk with the
smell of the sausages! Also spotting famous athletes like Daley Thomson, Steve
Cram, Tessa Sanderson, Liz McColgan, Steve Redgrave, Adrian Moorhouse and
Yvonne Murray as they came in to eat their meal and relax with their fellow
athletes.
Controversially, 32 countries
boycotted the games due to Margaret Thatcher’s government’s policy of
maintaining sporting links with apartheid South Africa, and the huge reduction
in numbers at short notice caused a logistical headache to say the least. The
City of Edinburgh was out of pocket by £500,000 due to funding issues.
Watching the Birmingham games
these past few days has brought it all these memories flooding back. It also
reminded me why I chose to work in hospitality in the first place.
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