Life in John’s editor, Maia Tollner, met up with Events and Catering Coordinator, Steven Podmore, to discuss his role at St John’s.
Come rain or shine, St John’s remains vibrant and buzzes with activity as dedicated staff members work effortlessly around the clock. Weekly, there is a college formal, or perhaps an external event, with delicious food and thorough planning required. Daily, packed lunches whizz out at lightning speed. Almost hourly, there is a different display of freshly cooked dishes for each meal. Not to mention the magical campus cards with our dietary requirements on them!
So, how exactly does this all happen?
Or rather, who makes it happen? The answer is Steven Podmore. Even if you’ve never been perplexed by John’s mystical ways, it is undeniable that, by overseeing two cherished aspects of our college as the Events and Catering Administrator, Steven is essential to life at John’s.
While Steven manages invoices with the handy help of Excel, he is also a vital communicator within the college, neatly summing up his job as “getting information from one place and feeding it to whoever needs it”, whether it is the students, VP offices or external companies, to ensure that everything runs smoothly.
For the most part, Steven focuses on college events, especially formals. However, catering allows Steven to go beyond the college and organise external events, such as an upcoming event run by the Durham Business School. From a coordination standpoint, Steven particularly enjoys new types of formals, namely mega-formals or the annual Bailey Ball, which provide him with the refreshing opportunity of working with the students. The John’s Social Sec will be pleased to know that Steven finds them to be “easy to work with”, offering “coherent” and “detailed” information.
Crucially, Steven takes care of our much beloved Haughton dining room. Although Steven rarely works in the kitchen himself, he is at the heart of catering at John’s. Without him, the kitchen would not be prepared to tackle the three meals awaiting them that day. He’s the one who puts our dietary requirements on our campus cards, makes sure the packed lunches are all ready and that the kitchen staff have everything they need for the day ahead. As part of his job, Steven sources ingredients from local companies, which arrive bright and early at 7am so that the kitchen staff can “make everything fresh”, ready for when the kitchen doors open at 8am.
Originally from Durham, Steven returned after working in London as a coordinator for a photography studio. Recently, Steven and his husband also owned a hotel for 15 years, which they decided to sell for a change. Returning to an administrative role, Steven told me how he felt welcomed at John’s and how it feels like “a little community”. While his role is at most times office-based, he reflected on a time when he had to cover an absence in the kitchen, describing how,
“That’s a John’s thing … people are quite happy to help when needed which I think is part of the magic of John’s.”
Image credit: St John’s College
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