Wanted: a royal washer-up for the Queen

The Queen is advertising for an employee who must be willing to travel for up to three months of the year around her palaces - including Balmoral - to do the dishes.

The successful applicant will be based at Buckingham Palace but must be prepared to travel to Windsor, Sandringham, Balmoral and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh when the household moves around. Travel to the various Royal residences has been made a "mandatory requirement" for the £14,200-a-year job.

The General Catering Assistant (Wash Up) - as it has been formally described - will mainly work in the staff restaurant of the Royal Household but also wash other Royal dishes too.

"You must be willing to work away from London for up to three months of the year," says the job advert on the Royal website, and added "You will join the team responsible for maintaining the cleanliness of the staff restaurant, wash-up areas and equipment in accordance with the Health and Hygiene Regulations to ensure the smooth operation of the staff restaurant."

The successful applicant must be "punctual, reliable, able to work well in a team and have a flexible and willing attitude."

Although based at Buckingham Palace, they must "be happy to travel and work at other Royal residences in the UK and at weekends."

The 40-hours-a-week job is an official position paid for from the Civil List. The job does offer accommodation and has a closing date of January 15. Experience of a similar job is "desirable."

Question 1. Indicate whether these sentences are true or false. Justify your answers with evidence from the text.

a)      The employee will have to follow specific cleaning procedures.

b)      The working hours for this job will vary.

c)      The wash up will be given somewhere to live.

d)      Applicants must have done this kind of work before.

Question 2. Answer the following questions in your own words.

a)      What duties is the General Catering Assistant going to have?

b)      What qualities should the General Catering Assistant have?

Question 3. Find a word or a phrase in the text that means the same as:

a)      Family unit par. 2

b)      For the most part par. 3

c)       Trustworthy par. 5

Question 4. Rewrite the following sentences without changing the meaning.

a)       "You must be willing to work away from London for up to three months of the year," says the job advert.

The advert said that ……………………………………………………………………….

b)       The 40-hours-a-week job is an official position paid for from the Civil List. The job does offer accommodation.

The 40-hours-a-week job, ……………………………………………………………

c)       Although based at Buckingham Palace, they must be happy to travel and work at other.

 Residences

        Despite...

Question 5. Write a short essay (120-150 words) on the following topic:

Would you like to apply for this job? Why? Why not?


R U interested in the places where you might work if accepted for the job?
Here you have more info.

The Royal residences

Virtual tours Buckingham Palace

Facts about Buckingham Palace

The Queen´s Palaces