June – Celebrations

15 June, 2003

June 2003 – Midwinter

Midwinter’s Week

Midwinter’s week for Rothera base started on the Midwinter’s day (Saturday 21st June). The day started with tea, coffee and toast delivered to those who ordered it in bed by the winter BC (Andy B.) and Deputy BC (John W.). Bacon butties followed at 1100. At 1200 a few people streaked around the main building, thankfully we don’t have any photos but by all accounts it wasn’t a pretty sight!!

On the day Issy, assisted by Eric, treated us to a plethora of superb food all day. The menu is below:

 

Midwinter’s Day Menu Rothera, Winter 2003

Anti Pasto

Smoked Salmon, Honey Roast Ham

Hummus, Pork and Liver Pate

Smoked Mackerel

Prawns in Marie Rose Sauce

Salami, Cheeses

Pickles, Chutneys & Olives

Anchoiade

Selection of Bread and Rolls

Dinner

Crispy Roast Duck Breast with a Port & Orange Sauce

Roasted Winter Vegetables

Braised Red Cabbage

Broccoli

Dessert

Chocolate Hazelnut Torte with Cream

Rum & Raisin Ice Cream

Coffee and Mints

Cheese and Port

In the evening we listened to the midwinter’s BBC World Service broadcast. A short message from home and hearing it on the radio was a pleasant reminder of life outside the base and also what it must have been like before the development of e-mail. This was followed by the traditional exchange of presents which base members have been making over the previous few weeks. Some feverishly finishing off their present on the day! The rest of the evening was spent in the bar.

Sunday was a chill-out day with various films shown in the bar. Other events during the week included a Casino and Horseracing and through these 2 events we were able to raise £250 for Mike Glostein’s Charity Cycle ride for “The Scottish Society for Autism”. There was also a quiz organised by Issy and won by Graeme & Jon B. Then a bridge tournament that went on until breakfast the following morning, this was won by Matt and Andy B. On Monday night was the traditional Rothera “pub crawl”, starting in the Magistrate Bar in the Ops tower and proceeded through the boatshed Teach na Mbad (The Irish Bar), Bar Bungee (Field GA bar), Met Bar, Surgery Bar with an unrepeatable name…..it was a busy and fun night!

A photo competition was organised by Kirsty with many fine enteries. The winning photos are displayed in a separate article. Other events of the week were badminton and football competitions.

Ski Sunday was arranged but had to be re-scheduled due to generator set number 3 disintegrating. So instead Saturday and Sunday had seven base members actively rebuilding genny set number 3. The entire week was communal gash, voluntary night watch and shared cooking; this way everyone on base had the maximum amount of time to enjoy the activities.

It was a great week so if you are coming down to Rothera for next winter start preparing for it now!

Andy Barker

Winter Base Commander and Comms Manager