the recipe for a NAAFI Christmas

The Roman circus centre and the Trust’s HQ are housed in the former NAAFI of the Artillery (Le Cateau) Barracks in the historic old Colchester garrison. ‘The NAAFI’ was actually a NAAFI Institute and it was built in 1937. It was operated by the NAAFI organisation (the Navy, Army & Air Force Institutes). ‘The NAAFI’ here was the social building for the ordinary soldiers and corporals and it provided them with two restaurant rooms, a small stage, two games rooms, a reading room, and somewhere to buy essential items such as a cup of tea, cakes, beer, cigarettes, and cleaning materials for their uniforms and equipment – a military ‘NAAFI break’ is a cup of tea and a cigarette. We are so fond of the NAAFI, our very special building, that we have been buying it some more special presents this year, such as a NAAFI service badge, a NAAFI tombola checking board, two NAAFI china cups, and a great NAAFI menu board. The Roman circus centre isn’t just about the only known Roman circus in Britain… but it is also, itself, a historic NAAFI building.

A publicity photo. has been published online which shows NAAFI cooks starting to make plum puddings for Christmas on the 21st September 1941, at www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/christmas_underfire_01.shtml . There is also some information about NAAFI life and a wartime NAAFI Christmas online, at www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/70/a2872370.shtml . The NAAFI organisation printed its own Christmas card, displaying their logo on a white ground. At Christmas, soldiers would have been able to enjoy good food and beer, good company, games, and even parties in our NAAFI, which probably would have featured a NAAFI piano on the stage for musical service personnel to play for the other soldiers… We know of at least one nurse from the garrison hospital who attended a party in our NAAFI during WW2 and she, so we have been told, danced on a table!

We also have a rare NAAFI recipe book. This seems to have been printed actually in December 1945. The front cover reads: WAR TIME RECIPE BOOK / Navy, Army & Air Force Institutes / Ruxley Towers, Claygate / Esher, Surrey / Amended to December, 1945 / This book is the property of the Navy, Army & Air Force Institutes and is not to be removed from the Institute, etc (see image below). It includes NAAFI Christmas or Christmas-appropriate recipes: mock goose, pease pudding, roast potatoes, brown gravy, Brussels sprouts, boiled turnips, boiled parsnips, boiled carrots, as well as plum pudding (perhaps served with ‘custard sauce’), fruit trifle, gingerbreads, mince pies, etc. The recipe for wartime NAAFI plum pudding is our present to you! – enjoy!

The images show our great NAAFI menu board (which needs a bit of conservation work), the recipe book cover and the plum pudding (plain) recipe, and the NAAFI tombola checking board. Apparently, the menu board must pre-date 1952, as the NAAFI logo includes the king’s crown (thanks to Ralph for the information).

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