Thursday 24th June. I am invited to celebrate the
80th anniversary of Morden, one of the oldest Rotary Clubs in
District 1140 and I brought the DG along with me. It was a black tie event,
held at Merton College, which is actually situated in Morden. Merton is a
College of Further Education, and teaches vocational skills in a number of
industries, including Construction, Engineering and (particularly relevant
tonight) Catering. It is normal for catering colleges to operate Restaurants
which are open to the public, so as to give students a real experience of
cooking and serving food to paying customers. Merton College is no exception,
and Morden Rotary Club had chosen to hold their anniversary meeting at Taste
Restaurant within the College.
Student staff at Taste Restaurant
I have previous experience of Restaurants in catering
Colleges, having worked for several years at Brooklands College in Weybridge,
and I often had lunch in their training Restaurant. I even booked the whole Restaurant one evening
for my Rotary Club’s president’s Night. The students looking after us would be
studying for NVQs in Food Production and Hospitality, which would involve
preparing food in the kitchen and also waiting at diners’ tables. First and
second year students would work together in teams and eating there was always a
good experience for me.
Brooklands College
When I first came to
the College, my initial thought was that I would be better off avoiding the
Restaurant in September and October, as the students were only just starting
their training. Later in the year, however, the students would be well under
way with their training, and the food would therefore be better. It wasn’t long
before I realised the error of my assumption. Not only were first year students
working alongside second year colleagues, but college staff kept a watchful eye
on proceedings and provided a quality
control function.
Michel Roux visits Brooklands
Getting back to tonight, we were warmly greeted by President
Tony Hunn, and met up with some old friends, including Jean Fox and Fred Renno.
John Brewer was there also, and I chastised him for being without his recently
acquired Paul Harris medal. Surely this is exactly the sort of event to show
off his regalia. It was a warm evening, and cocktails were enjoyed on the
terrace, before we were shown to our table in the Taste Restaurant. The
Restaurant appeared very modern and well appointed, rather more so than
Brooklands College I would say, although to be fair I haven’t been back to
Brooklands for a couple of years. From my table in the Restaurant I could see into the kitchen, and our waiters tonight
seemed exceptionally well trained, and happy to chat with diners.
The kitchen, as seen from my table
A table of photographs and other memorabilia was
particularly interesting. There was a menu
from the inaugural meeting of the club at the Crown Inn, Morden. I was
drawn to the fact that they had a 7-course luncheon that day. I doubted if we
would be so fortunate tonight. There was also a board etched with the names of
all Presidents of the club since 1935.
Inaugural menu 1935
This isn't Tony's first stint as President
Tony Hunn began proceedings by declaring that tonight would
be a trip down memory lane, as the Rotary club reflected on its long
history. I noticed that the chair he was
using was rather impressive, more akin to a throne. Tony explained that the
Presidential chair was originally made by one of the club’s founder members,
Arthur Champion, and the club had it refurbished recently in time for tonight’s
celebration.
Tony (in presidential chair) with DG
Among the other distinguished guests tonight, apart from
myself, were the outgoing mayor of Merton Borough, Agatha Akyigyina, as well as a number of former
members of the Rotary Club who had come along to help celebrate its
anniversary. There was also a celebrity among the students, a young man called Aidan, I think, who was
this year’s winner of the local Rotary Young Chef competition. He was called
out from the kitchen to be presented to the diners. The club has supported
Young Chef for 12 years, and they clearly have a super venue for the
competition in Merton College.
The DG with outgoing Mayor Agatha Akyigyina
Different speakers regaled us with stories of some of the many
projects the club has been involved in. Tony himself is the organiser for Kids
Out, which the club has been involved in for 25 years. They take a group of
disadvantaged children to Chessington World of Adventures for a day, something
that club members find very rewarding. The Club also has supported the MordenLittle League football competition for boys and girls, ever since it was formed
46 years ago. The founder of the league, Frank Adey, needed sponsorship to get
it off the ground, and after making a presentation to Morden Rotary Club, he
came away with sponsorship for 5 teams. The club has sponsored teams every year
since then.
Morden Little League handbook
Other projects we heard about this evening were the purchase
of an Access sailing boat to enable disabled sailors to sail on Wimbledon Lake,
a minibus purchased for Endeavour Boys Club,
providing Christmas gifts for children who suffered in the Chernobyl
disaster of 1986, and hosting groups of Chernobyl children who were brought to
the UK for a holiday.
The DG presents Tony with certificate from RI
It was a super evening, at which the DG had very little to
do, apart from proposing a toast to the Rotary Club of Morden, to which
Tony Hunn responded. The food of course was excellent. We had
roast rib of beef with Yorkshire pudding, followed by a dessert of
deconstructed passion fruit cheese cake. There is a current fashion for
deconstructed food dishes, and I suppose it gives the students an opportunity
to demonstrate their skills. Call me old-fashioned but I personally prefer
cheesecake to look like cheesecake.
Deconstructed cheesecake
