A World Champion Visits The “Friend”
It’s not every day we get a World Champion in our Dundee office!
Earlier this year, the team who went to our last Warner Leisure break at Alvaston Hall met Lisa and Steve Williams.
They remembered the lovely couple fondly. So we were absolutely delighted to discover that Lisa had recently won the famous “Golden Spurtle”!
It’s awarded to the winner of the World Porridge Making Championships up at Carrbridge, near Aviemore.
Lisa and Steve happened to be passing through Dundee on their way home from the victory. We couldn’t resist inviting them into the office for a visit.
We managed to nip up to our famous Vista Room for a look out over the city before we took them downstairs to meet the team.
Marmalade in the Vista Room. Photograph by Iain McDonald.
There are two prizes up for grabs at the competition, plus one for kids.
One prize is for “Specialty” porridge — a pretty free-form category — but the lauded Golden Spurtle is given to the winner in the “Traditional” category.
This is the purist’s category, with the rules stipulating:
Traditional porridge is made from oatmeal (not rolled oats or oatflakes), water and salt. No other ingredients are allowed.
So it’s all about technique.
That’s what happens when you’re world champion
Steve came in with his camera and a small and mysterious armoured suitcase, like something from an episode of Mission Impossible.
We hardly dared to ask. It turned out that it contained the Golden Spurtle itself, and was given to them to protect it in transit.
It’ll travel back down south with them, until they have to bring it back for next year’s competition.
Lisa had been taking interview requests from the media left, right and centre, and had to break her visit at 3.15 for a radio interview.
For one interview, she recalls, she was held on the line while the show interviewed the leader of Sinn Fein, before she came on to talk porridge. Slightly surreal!
But that’s what happens when you’re world champion!
If you fancy finding out more about the competition, have a look at the World Porridge Making Championships website.
Read more from Alex on his blog.
