Marketing? It’s a piece of cake! - by Natasha Rahanu

As those of you who know me are aware, as well as promoting the sale of delicious food all around the University care of our delivered catering, I’m no stranger to the inside of a kitchen myself.

My forte is desserts, specifically cakes (past triumphs have included an elephant lemon cake and a 3D train cake complete with carriages stuffed full of gummy bear passengers).

So the other weekend when I went to my niece’s  (Imogen, or Immy for short) fourth birthday party and my sister asked me to make the cake I was only too happy to oblige. Little did I know at this point that the design of the cake was to be a scaled down version of the gym in which the party was taking place!

Anyway, following a day spent with Immy watching films and making things out of paper and glitter, at 5pm I started on the cake, finally finishing at 2am the morning of the party!

Cake or gym - which is which?!

It was all worth it when Immy saw the cake but to top it off, shortly after we arrived at the gym, the manager approached me and asked for my permission to put a photo of the cake on their website as part of their promotional campaign for parties.

Oh okay... one square apple pie coming up!

What a difference a day makes - by Natasha Rahanu

The University of Leeds is a large and prestigious institution that attracts a variety of high profile visitors; quite recently we’ve hosted the Leader of the Labour Party, Ed Milliband and the High Sheriff of West Yorkshire, A E Grant Esq OBE.

Sometimes though, when your work and focus is on the operational side of events, the content can pass you by. 

You say Morris dancing, I say risk assessment?

You say swan ice sculpture, our survey says; will it fit in the lift?

That all changed when I met a man called Paul Garner.

Professor Garner holds the Cowdry Chair in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese and has recently written a book about his positions namesake, Lord Cowdry, who in the early 1900s became one of the wealthiest men in Britain, not least because the centre of his oil and engineering empire, was focused in Mexico.

Professor Garner celebrated his book launch with a week long exhibition of rare Mexican photographs in one of our venues, Parkinson Court, and a VIP reception which attracted the likes of the Vice-Chancellor of the University, the Lord Mayor and the Mexican Ambassador (on his first ever visit to Leeds).

The Court was transformed into a Mexican wonderland with palm trees, cacti, and tequila.  And the brightest star of the night: none other than our very own University catering.  In little more than 72 hours, we had created a Mexican oasis in the middle of Leeds and received high praise in two different languages!

On top of all this I have also managed to tick off three things I didn’t even know were on my ‘to do before I’m 30 list’:

• held a meeting about cacti with the British Cactus & Succulent Society (yes, they do exist – Google it!)
• ordered 70 shot glasses for non-personal use
• said ‘Hello;’ in Spanish to the Mexican Ambassador

So what did you do today?