Campus matters newsletter December 2015

CAMPUS MATTERS

December 2015 The newsletter for Campus Services

Season’s greetings and a happy new year!

Thank you to everyone who met with our Hospitality Assured assessors last month and for the hard work you put in prior to their visit. They were very impressed with the many new initiatives and improvements being implemented. One of the assessors, Trisha Bennett, commented, “It is without doubt that the success of Campus Services is due to a combination of a strategic approach and the ‘can do’, positive attitude demonstrated by all.”

Therefore, I’m delighted to announce that we have been awarded a fantastic score of 75.9%, which entitles us to premier status. This is indicative of the work that has been put into our hospitality journey to date and is an improvement on our 2013 assessment. Well done to everyone, it’s great to end the year on a positive note!

Institute of Hospitality, specifically for customer facing businesses.

The process encourages businesses to develop best practice by viewing their own operation from a customer perspective to see where improvements can be made to benefit the business.

IN THIS ISSUE Buckingham Palace visit Terri Sadler enjoyed a visit to Buckingham Palace as part of her prize for winning gold in the TUCO service skills competition.

Results of the full report will be communicated in the next issue of Campus Matters.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve really enjoyed seeing all of the Christmas themed activities on Campus. Our “12 days of Christmas” started with our Festive Food Festival in the South Quad at the end of November and has continued with Christmas lunches, Christmas themed cocktails and other special Christmas offers in all of our outlets, plus of course, our departmental get together in Kingswood earlier this week.

I would like to wish you all If you’re a little unsure as to what season’s greetings and a very Hospitality Assured actually is, it’s happy and restful holiday. the standard for service and busiSue Lloyd ness excellence, created by the

Bedford Square transformed Take a look to see how the building has been restored to its former glory.

Season’s eatings The Christmas festivities began in earnest on campus two weeks ago at our Festive Food Festival held in Founder’s South Quad.

The catering team did us proud once again with a selection of delectable seasonal treats. Mouth-watering savoury main meals included turkey/nut and stuffing rolls, roasted chestnuts and golden crisp potatoes, with festive sweet treats of mincemeat muffins, stollen bites, brandy butter popcorn, gluten free Christmas cake and many more.

A large crowd gathered to “Meet the reindeer” and there was also the opportunity to try a selection of festive activities including face painting, a rodeo reindeer and Santa style sumo wrestling. New for this year was a pop up bar and a range of great market stalls, selling a variety of gifts.

Straight out of Lapland

Head of Conferences & Catering, Mike Hoare said, “The event attracted a lot of people and there was a real Christmas buzz in the air. Well done to every one for their hard work in making the event such a success.”

The day’s festivities concluded with the Christmas tree light switch on by the Principal in the South Quad, accompanied by the angelic sound of Royal Holloway’s Gospel Choir.

Some sweet treats on display

A warm welcome to ...

Carol Leppard, Conference and Events Sales Executive Carol is an experienced Event Sales Manager who has worked in a variety of hospitality venues, most recently for the Sundial Group at Barnett Hill Conference Centre.

Lisa Nixon, Internal Hospitality and Weddings Coordinator Lisa comes from an IT background and has been working at the university for nearly eleven years, most recently for the Mathematics and Information Security Group. She is looking forward to a completely new challenge!

All I want for Christmas is...

Christmas came early for Terri Sadler when she was invited to spend a day “behind the scenes” at Buckingham Palace.

For Terri, Thursday 19th November was by no means “just another day of food service”. As part of her prize for winning the Gold medal in the Service Skills Challenge at the TUCO (The University Caterer’s Organisation) Awards held earlier this year, Terri was given the opportunity to spend a day at Buckingham Palace, assisting with preparations for a guest lunch and HRH the Princess Royal’s 5 Nations Dinner and Award Ceremony.

The TUCO Service Skills competition aims to recognise and encourage the importance of the food service team, taking into account not only the preparation of the food service areas and the Ready for a day’s work at Buckingham Palace! table settings, but also the level of customer care, product knowledge, technical skills and teamwork that service staff require in order to provide a first She was also taken to the Ball Room to watch an class meal experience for every customer. investiture, where an individual who had been awarded an honour, was receiving their award in Competitors were asked to serve a four-course person from HRH The Prince of Wales. lunch menu with wine, coffee and petit fours.

Having prepared and delivered afternoon tea to Her Majesty the Queen’s lady in waiting, Terri assisted with the preparations for dinner, including counting the cutlery, laying the table and helping to measure every last detail, from the distance of each chair from the table to the positioning of the table decorations and centre pieces. “It was a once in a lifetime experience and I feel extremely lucky to have been given the opportunity to see what happens behind the scenes at a royal palace,” said Terri. “In many ways it was very similar to what I do here at Royal Holloway as it is Terri’s winning table setting very much a working palace with lots going on. It was a real privilege to be able to witness service Terri’s first task at the palace, was to assist the on such a grand scale and I’m looking forward to silver and glassware pantry teams with the table bringing some of what I learnt back to Royal setting for the Palace’s Private Secretary’s lunch Holloway.” with his Heads of Department. After observing lunch service by the palace footmen, Terri was Head of Conferences and Catering, Mike Hoare taken on a tour of the palace, visiting the state added, “We are all encouraged to view different rooms, the grand entrance, (just as the President operations in order to bring back innovative ideas, of Madagascar was arriving) the wine cellars and but Terri has taken this to a new level!” the Centre Room, off which is the famed balcony overlooking The Mall.

A new year and a new look for Bedford Square Following an extensive top to bottom refurbishment, Bedford Square opened for business again in November.

In addition to providing the facility with a much needed coat of paint, the refurbishment has restored unique features, such as a stone cantilever staircase that goes all the way to the top of the Georgian building.

There have also been a few subtle changes to the building’s layout, including a new corridor running along the front of the building providing new, independent access to one of the meeting rooms.

Additionally, the double doors separating the main lobby from the rest of the building have been removed, opening up a far larger reception area to provide a fantastic wow factor upon entering the building.

and small group spaces as well as hot desk facilities. The renovation project has been contributed to by alumni of Bedford College and other generous donors. Bedford Society members are being invited to use the room as a meeting place from January.

Other new facilities include new coffee and snack machines, to keep our hard-working staff and students topped up on energy when they need it.

There is also a new kitchen in the basement to support future special events.

James Beadnell of Bisset Adams, the lead architect for the project stated, “It was a pleasure to receive such positive feedback from the project stakeholders and we are very pleased to see this fine example of an 18th century townhouse beautifully refurbished and improved ready for the future.�

One of the main additions to the building is the new Bedford Room. Located on the ground floor where the computer room previously stood, it will provide a common room for current students, staff and Bedford Society (alumni of Bedford College) members. On the first, second and third floors there are new teaching, office

Grooming future partners Last month the conference and catering team opened Founder’s doors to over 20 prospective brides and grooms-to-be and their families for the annual wedding open day.

The couples were able to view the Picture Gallery, Founder’s Dining Hall and Crosslands, which had been dressed for both civil ceremonies and receptions, as well as the quads.

Weddings coordinator Lisa Nixon said, “It was great to see that, despite the torrential rain, our prospective couples were still completely “wowed” by Founder’s and one couple even booked their wedding with us on the day!”

She continued, “As I am quite new to this role, it was also a fantastic opportunity for me to be able to show so many couples around in such a short space of time.”

Conference Sales Manager, Emily Perrier added “Many thanks to the seven members of the team who gave up their Saturday to help show all of the couples around our stunning venue. Their hard work certainly paid off!”

All staff and alumni receive a 10% discount off the cost of pre-ordered food and drinks when they book a party or event, so please get in touch with the team for details of how we can tailor make an event for you.

Contact us: 01784 443045; sales-office@royalholloway.co.uk; venue.royalholloway.ac.uk Don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

International street food at your doorstep This autumn we’ve introduced a mouth-watering variety of international street foods across campus to suit any palate. Whether you’re treating those taste buds with a creole sausage at Soul and Pepper or savouring something with a bit of a kick from The Spicy Chef, you won’t be disappointed.

In fact street food has become such a popular trend that we’ve now implemented street food carts within the campus catering outlets, namely Founder’s Dining Hall and The Hub. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and a special thank you must be said to Rebecca Nurse and Darren Coventry for their work in spearheading this successful project. A wider congratulations to everyone in Campus Services for your work towards making new and exciting food on campus a very tasty reality.

Royal Holloway Wedding Fayre Next year, on Sunday 28th February the conference team will host a wedding fayre, showcasing a diverse array of established and new wedding businesses.

Around 50 companies are due to exhibit at the event throughout the Founder’s Building and the quads displaying everything from wedding dresses and grooms attire to photography, flowers, stationery, table decorations, chair covers, cakes, vehicles and more. Please contact Lisa Nixon on ext 4149 for further information.

College Kitchen Launch Last month saw the launch of “The College Kitchen”, with new menus, packed with innovative ideas, delicious options and healthy choices.

Whether you choose an express coffee service or a three course banquet, The College Kitchen will strive to provide the service you deserve, using only the freshest food.

Having considered suggestions regarding health, value for money and food wastage, The College Kitchen has worked hard to create a contemporary and exciting new variety of menus to please its customers.

To simplify the ordering process the menus are now split into 3 parts:   

delivered catering, serviced catering and private dining.

Any existing bookings with items from the old menus will still be honoured, but if you would like to find out how to replace these bookings with items from the new menus, please call ext 3045 or email us.

Conferencing Collaboration Matthew Woodham, Account Executive in the conference office, had a successful workshop on conference organisation with some of our postgraduates last month as part of the College’s Researcher Development Programme.

The workshop was organised in response to an increased demand for advice and guidance on conference planning from postgraduates and earlycareer researchers.

Matthew said, “We took a creative and interactive look at numerous aspects associated with running a conference, joined by Koel Chatterjee, a PhD candidate, who shared her experiences of organising a successful international conference and film festival on Shakespeare and Bollywood.”

Sue Lloyd, Head of Quality and Service Development commented, “Matthew works very hard in his role selling and organising conferences and over the years he has developed some very good relationships with senior members of academic departments.”

Workshops like this showcase the relationship campus services and academic communities can create together, sharing their skills and expertise in the university community.