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SENIOR CITIZENS LUNCH 2000 Rector gets cooking to feed flock By Peter Barrington, Bicester Reporter COOKERY expert and rector the Rev Noel James believes in feeding his flock. If there is a harvest festival supper or a senior citizens' lunch in his diary, then he nips into the kitchen at Lower Heyford rectory to rustle up a meal.
Above: TEAM - Noel James and the others who helped prepare the lunch. Mr James, 61, said: "I just like cooking. I have never had a cookery lesson in my life. Basically it all started when my mother died when I was young, and as there were three children we just had to get on with it. "When I was a chaplain in the RAF, I picked up tips from the RAF chefs and went on from there." He was in the kitchen at the weekend when he began preparing lunch for senior citizens living in Lower Heyford. "As there is a kitchen in the village hall, I was able to finish off there and we also have a big heated trolley available," he said.
The three-course lunch he cooked began with chicken and vegetable soup and was followed by a choice of roast pork or roast lamb with apple or mint sauce, mashed potatoes, carrots, peas and leeks in a cheese sauce. For pudding, there was lemon crunch mousse or sherry trifle, rounded off with coffee and mints. The price for the villagers was £3 each, but the meal was also subsidised by the Lower Heyford Relief in Need charity. The first lunch was held to celebrate the Millennium a year ago and was repeated the weekend because it proved so popular. Mr James often cooks a late Sunday lunch after he has conducted services in the Valley Group of parishes, taking in churches at Upper Heyford, Lower Heyford, Rousham and Somerton. He also cooks the supper for an annual gathering of clergy and lay readers in the Bicester and Islip deanery. "My wife Mollie says I am a chef and she is a cook. She says that chefs do not do their own washing up," joked Mr James. His son, Leigh, a barrister, is also a cook. "When Leigh is at home, it can be a fight to get into the kitchen," said Mr James. One of the most exotic dishes he has cooked has been a Victorian recipe for cold meats. This is a turkey stuffed with goose, chicken and duck. It is glazed and sliced up when cold. "I think the Victorians also used swan, but I do not think I would be very popular cooking a swan these days," he said. And his recipe for success in the kitchen? "It is all a matter of confidence. As I cook only occasionally, it does not become a chore. I suppose you could say I take feeding my flock very literally," said Mr James. Article and photos from the Oxford Mail, January 2001 | TOP | |
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CHEERS! The villagers tuck in to their meal.