Barbecue & The Tunnel

We look forward to celebrating the end of the 21st World Gig Championships with a spectacular beach party on Sunday 2nd May, commencing at 8.30 p.m.

As in previous years this will take place on Porthmellon Beach and we will be making full use of the Gig sheds for the bands and bar with a separate marquee for the BBQ. The bar and BBQ will be open until late and we will be well entertained by local bands. A dedicated group of volunteers will be ready to serve you with a choice from the bar and food servery. The bonfire on the beach will be lit at about 9 p.m. so come along and enjoy the atmosphere.

Just a foot note, will everyone who is lucky enough to look under 21 years old, please make it easier for our bar staff by bringing along suitable i.d.

Your support for this event will be much appreciated. All profits go towards the funding of next years Championships.

Tunnel Vision 2006 This year, as in previous years, there will be catering in The Tunnel on Holgates Green. Maggie Tucker and Alison Guy have been running this operation for 15 years now, since 1991 and every year the food has improved and become more ambitious from its humble beginnings 16 years ago. There were 17 boats in the first World Championships and in those days those who came over to the Islands were unable to get even a cup of tea around the Green, and the Co-op was closed on the Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday.

In the first year they offered tea, coffee and home-made cakes and a few canned drinks. A small primus stove was used to boil a kettle under tarpaulin. The profit from that weekend amounted to £500 towards Gig Funds. By year two the operation had expanded into bottled water and bananas. This lasted for a couple of years and then they expanded into pasta in 1998, cooked in a container on the primus stove which was stood on a couple of milk crates. Pasta in bolognaise sauce has proved to be the mainstay of the catering, but that year also saw the arrival of the tea urn, at first borrowed from the WI. Maggie and Alison boiled kettles on the primus stove between pots of pasta to keep the tea urn topped up. The tarpaulin gave way to the garden gazebo, borrowed from the Theatre Club.

1999 saw the catering come of age with the arrival of The Tunnel and the following year marked the arrival of the gas cooker. With this, they were able to expand into several choices of pasta at lunchtime, and cooked bacon and sausages for breakfast until about 10am. Breakfast proved an immediate hit!

In 2004, 146 pints of milk were used, 132lbs of pasta, 50lbs of bacon and 4000 cups of tea and coffee along with a bathtub full of coleslaw produced from 44lbs of onions, 1 sack of carrots, 12 white cabbages and 44 pints of mayonnaise!

The weekend now takes up about 300 woman-work hours in cooking, baking, serving food and washing up. As well as Maggie and Alison, there is a loyal band of ladies who turn up to help each year, several of whom come over just for the event.

Over the years the catering operation grew and grew. The Tunnel got bigger, electricity arrived, then piped water. The operation has become more and more professional; now with plumbed in boilers and two cooking ranges. These days there is now competition from cafes, pubs and even the Co-op stays open. All the profit in The Tunnel however is donated to the World Pilot Gig Fund. From the early donation of £500 towards this Fund, The Tunnel is now at the point where the catering now funds the whole event each year and also helps to support the local gigs. The Tunnel is also the hub of the event, it is a meeting place, the refuge from rain, and the place to go for information, lost property, as well as a nice cup of tea and a very tasty home-made cake!