Brenda Beach is bowing out after 33 years running the Ashburton College canteen. Photo Sue NewmanOver the past 32 years Brenda Beach has provided the fuel that kept the tummies full and the minds of thousands of Ashburton College students ticking over.

As manager of the school’s canteen, Beach has fed at least two generations of students their breakfast, lunch and in between snacks, hundreds have earned their pocket money working alongside her and staff have also filled their bellies from her kitchen.

But come the start of the 2020 school year, Beach will on the road with husband Murray and their caravan exploring highways, byways and hidden fishing spots.

Looking back over 32 years as the college’s canteen boss, Beach said she’s loved virtually every minute of the job, but it was one she almost didn’t get.

“I’d been working in takeaways and I applied but missed out.

“I got second, but they rang me about a week later and asked me to come in for another interview,” she said.

Interview over, the job was hers, but the canteen she inherited was very different to what it is today.

Take the size of the place, Beach said.

“It was like working in a little box, but we fed thousands of kids out of that box.”

And the style of food back then was low on health and high on fats, sugars and carbs, she said.

“It was terrible, all fudge cake, carrot cake, cream buns and donuts.

“The only thing that was close to a healthy choices was a filled roll or a ‘health’ sandwich.”

She recalls making four oven tray size batches of fudge cake every day.

And there were hot chips and a super-busy deep fryer.

That all changed under Beach’s watch.

The fryers disappeared and she and her team worked towards achieving bronze, silver and gold heartbeat wards given by the Heart Foundation to schools that met healthy food standards.

Surprisingly there was little resistance from students when their food choices switched from harmful to healthy.

Beach still makes concessions to the teenagers’ desire for the odd ‘bad’ food in her constantly changing menus.

While there are some constants, each day there are several different items on the menu, with sausage rolls starring on Mondays and pies on Friday.

On a cold day she’ll sell more than 100 sausage rolls while pie sales can top 200.

The canteen is also open for breakfast with students having the option of hash browns or spaghetti toasties and a hot drink.

While prices are kept as low as possible, the canteen has to make money.

Beach’s philosophy is to keep healthy food at cost price and to make her money from the unhealthier items sold at a higher price.

“I know right down to the last slice of ham what it costs to make a sandwich,” she said.

It’s a place where she sees hundreds of students’ faces each day; most weeks, total numbers lining up to 1600.

“I hate to think how many students I’ve dealt with over the years.

“When I started I never imagined I’d see my children and then my grandchildren coming through.

“I certainly don’t want to be here when my great grandchildren are at college,” she said.

Each day she has a team of students who work as her assistants – paid – and one of her regrets in leaving is that she won’t see two of those who have been with her since Year 9, complete their final year at college.

As the school year runs down, Beach is now ticking the boxes on the vast stack of records she’ll pass on to her replacement.

And those records are detailed – what’s sold on each day and how much of it.

She has her menus by the sales windows, but ultimately what’s sold will be up to the next manager, she said.

By Sue Newman © The Ashburton Guardian - 9 December 2019