Feast marks holiday for US students

We may be on the wrong side of the Atlantic, but Thanksgiving came to Preston yesterday thanks to 900 American students.
AUC Executive Dean Dr Heidi Chumley.AUC Executive Dean Dr Heidi Chumley.
AUC Executive Dean Dr Heidi Chumley.

Staff at the University of Central Lancashire didn’t want the hundreds of visitors from the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine to miss out on their traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

They have already lost their homes and college as a result of Hurricane Irma and have been given temporary refuge by UCLan’s School of Medicine so they can continue their studies for the rest of the academic year.

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So, yesterday catering staff stepped in to put on a spread to match the Thanksgiving celebrations they are used to across the pond.

Thanksgiving dinner at UCLanThanksgiving dinner at UCLan
Thanksgiving dinner at UCLan

More than 900 staff and students were fed across three sittings, which saw them dishing up a whopping 140kg of turkey and 80kg of potatoes, with AUC staff serving lunch to the students in keeping with the school’s tradition.

A spokesman for UCLan said: “This was our way of making them feel at home and it was very well received.”

In the USA Thanksgiving traditionally kicks off the holiday 
season but didn’t become an official holiday until 1941.

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It can be traced back to 1621 when the first pilgrims from England invited the local native Americans to a harvest feast after they experienced a successful season of produce growth. These days the National Turkey Federation estimated that 46 million turkeys are e eaten at Thanksgiving.

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