Match teas
Forget the score– who wins the battle of the match tea?
Let’s face it—an enormous part of being in the school team or trekking the many miles to stand on the touchline and cheer is the lure of the nosh afterwards. Flora Howard speaks to connoisseurs young and not so young about the joys of sausages, chips and homemade cake
Cothill House, Abingdon,
Oxfordshire (01865 390800;
www.cothill.net) Match Tea Tsars Duncan Bailey, headmaster (and old boy) and Richard Sutton, head of sport The menu Sausages, chips and beans: a traditional sportsman’s match tea. Boys sit intermingled with the other school and parents are given egg sandwiches (they aren’t allowed near the chips) Best of the rest Ludgrove
Horris Hill, Newbury,
Berkshire (01635 40594;
www.horrishill.com) Match Tea Tsars Molly Tollit, headmaster’s wife, and Martyn Foss, director of sport The menu The boys tuck into sausages and curly fries with jam doughnuts for pudding; the parents are given egg-and- cress sandwiches, cakes and scones with clotted cream and jam made from home- grown kitchen-garden produce Best of the rest Ludgrove
East Lothian (01368 862785;
www.belhavenhill.com) Match Tea Tsars Tessa Coleman, school secretary and parent of Belhaven old boys The menu The classic—sausages, chips and beans. Belhaven boys change into their kilts and jumpers, the teams sit intermingled and the captains say grace.
Belhaven Hill, Dunbar,
Parents are invited into the drawing room for egg sandwiches and cake (the ginger- bread is particularly good) Best of the rest St Mary’s School, Melrose
Wellesley House,
Broadstairs, Kent (01843 862991; www.wellesley.
kent.sch.uk)
Match Tea Tsars Mr and Mrs Simon O’Malley, headmaster and
his wife The menu Sausages and chips in the winter; sandwiches, fruit, crisps and doughnuts in the summer. Parents love the homemade sandwiches, cakes and scones. Players sit with their opponents at one end of the school dining room and the parents are at the other. In summer, match teas take place outside Best of the rest Junior King’s School, Canterbury
Ludgrove,
Wokingham, Berkshire (0118–978 9881;
www.ludgrove.net) Match Tea Tsar Olivia Inglis, headmaster’s wife and registrar The menu Usually, sausages from the local butcher with chips and beans. Alternatively, they have chicken goujons, followed by chocolate biscuits or doughnuts. The par- ents are given egg sandwiches or the rather original (but very popular) marmite-and- cress sandwiches and homemade cakes (made by Laurie McGill Smith, who has been putting together the Ludgrove match teas for
35 years). In the summer term, match tea is held in the cricket pavil-
ion, where the parents enjoy cucumber sandwiches and tea or iced coffee Best of the rest Lambrook
St Mary’s School,
Melrose, Roxburghshire (01896 822517;
www.stmarysmelrose.
org.uk) Match Tea Tsars Mr W. J. Harvey, headmaster and Mrs F. K. Bell, deputy head The menu Sausages, beans and chunky chips for the children and
www.countrylife.co.uk
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