We’ve had a beautiful late summer here in Padstow but Autumn has definitely arrived.  While riding home last night I was thinking I would be able to carry on cycling in my shorts for another couple of weeks, despite having put on long sleeves for that morning.  I must admit I had a big re-think this morning - the house felt quite chilly when I got up so out came another jumper and my long trousers, I had another think and left them in the wardrobe.  Just before I left I had a quick glance at the outside thermometer and saw only 8 degrees - straight back upstairs for the leggings and a pair of gloves just in case.

The ride in was lovely because it was so sunny and more enjoyable as I was wrapped up well.  Adam and I were laughing at Jackie in reception the other day (cruel I know but..) because she was telling a guest it is as nice here in the winter as it is in the summer.  We found it funny because it sounded so incongruous but really Jackie is right - it is a great place to be with the crisp, very fresh air and the walks and rides are very refreshing and the other people you meet on the Camel Trail or South West Coast Path always have time for at least a quick hello. 

October is a great time to have a look at out of season Cornwall if you’ve only come in the summer before, there’s loads to do as most of the attractions stay open till after half term and if your interest is more wildlife the estuary is teeming with migrating birds having a stopover on their way south - we are quite famous for our Whooper swans amongst many others.

I do find myself writing mainly about what people here get up to at work but the boys and girls do manage to get out and enjoy themselves quite a lot.  Most of this isn’t material for publication but some is.  Mel has started surfing again and taken some of the girls with her with varying degrees of success - Laura went for the first time yesterday and managed to stand up!  Was going to put up a picture but need some help to do that.  Will edit when I have the knowhow.

At our group management meeting yesterday Yvonne, our Marketing Manager, reminded those of us who have blogs to ensure we kept them up to date.  I promptly made a note to do this and my starting subject was training for next year’s swim.  Andrea was sitting next to me and she read what I’d written and was most worried that I was starting to take this far too seriously!  I did admit to a quick swim that morning in The Grand’s pool which was lovely but no, nothing too serious yet.

As in every walk of life and business we get questions from our clients which they think are perfectly reasonable.  We, on the other hand, do find them quite amusing.  I don’t think it appropriate to start sharing them with you here (just in case you asked one of them) but suffice it to say we do manage to have a little laugh during the day.  Thank you to you if you have asked us something silly because it has brightened our time here!

Just had my end of day meeting with Clive and we’ve passed - he’s very pleased with the positive feeling people have about their work and the hotel.  As ever I’ve got some more homework but it is all helpful stuff and I’m looking forward to the next stage in our development.

Today we have our Investors in People assessor here, talking to a range of staff to see how we are doing with our more formal people management processes.  When we were initially given the award Clive said he could see we had a good people ethos even if we hadn’t ticked all the right boxes.  Last year we had our first review and things had slipped a bit, we all got too busy  with the day to day stuff of looking after the guests and the staff and maybe didn’t do all the proper things.

This year has been a lot better, we have a lot more focus on doing things properly: our communication is better and our perfermance management and review systems are much more robust, thanks in no small part to Alan our group HR manager who joined us last summer.  I will find out very shortly how we have done!

This is a common call from rugby referees when the ball is stuck in a mall and nothing is happening but it is equally appropriate for Padstow’s Cinema.  This is a magical old building, created as a music hall in 1919 and converted to a cinema a few years later.  Unfortunately it has limited opening hours and I have heard a rumour which I’ve yet to follow up that it is for sale.

It would be a real shame for Padstow to lose its cinema, The Cinedrome as it is called was fully refurbished in 1997 so it should have a lot of life left in it, we just need to encourage some more people to use it.

Have a look at the site and call in if you have a chance: http://www.wtwcinemas.co.uk/ 

I managed to escape for a little walk yesterday afternoon - I have to make myself go and have a look around the town every now and then - and bumped into Adrian from Margot’s Bistro who was quietly laying up his last few tables from lunch.  As ever in the course of a busy summer season it is difficult to keep in touch with what is happening around the town and what friends are up to. 

I was surprised to hear of Adrain’s plans for his restaurant: it is not just Mr Stein who is expanding his buildings as Adrian is in the process of taking over the shop next door to double the size of his place.  The project sounds really exciting with a bar area as well as a few more tables.  This will please all the regular summer visitors who know how hard it is to get a table - the book is full to the end of September already!  He will be closed during November and December to do all this work.

It may seem odd that I am writing about a competitor restaurant but the business rivarly in the town is very friendly, it gives us a competitive edge to make Padstow the best place to come to.  Letting my cynical side side show for a moment it might help me sell a few more bedrooms if prospective guests know there are more good places to eat around the town.

What I did notice while on my walk around was that while Padstow is still busy, especially with the sunshine, it has eased off a little and there is room to walk around now.

We had the de-brief from the swim last Monday evening, just to make a few notes on what we did right and what we need to do better for next year.  Most of it we got right, with just a new checking in arrangement to finalise so we can get all the swimmers down the slip and in to the water quickly.

The after swim party was a great success with the Fisherman’s Friends singers entertaining the spectators.  The bar and BBQ were a great step forwards and we took over £800 on this, most going to Macmillan once the costs were covered.

I am going to try and start a thread on the Macmillan message board about the swim because we want to have more fundraising swimmers next year:  over the last number of years we have attracted more competitive swimmers and triathletes who pay their entry fee and that’s it.  While we do have a lot of fun with the swim and the cameraderie is great we mustn’t forget that the purpose is to raise money.  We will be focusing much more next year on encouraging fun swimmers to the event and we will try and find more ways of encouraging people to take part and also to raise as much money as we can.  Last year we raised over £15,000 but we will be lucky to reach that this year.

While we are very grateful for the athletes who take part and who do contribute their entry fees we want more people like me and my friends from the hotels who do this for the challenge as well as raising the money.  Mike hadn’t really swum for about 8 years and Cath said the next day she felt like she’d been run over by a truck!  That, though is the fun and the sense of achievement is amazing.

If anybody reading this feels moved to make a contribution do please send cheques to Macmillan care of the hotel and I’ll pass them on for you.

We don’t have the date and time details for next years’s swim yet but this will come out very soon, I think on the Macmillan web site.